


SCHOOL EFFIGIENC\^ MONOGRAPHS 



STANDARDS 
IN ENGLISH 

MAHONEY 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 



'? 



SCHOOL EFFICIENCY 
MONOGRAPHS 

Methods of Training Special 
Classes 

The Public and Its School 

Standards in English 

An Experiment in the Fun- 
damentals 

EUeB 

Newsboy Service 



SCHOOL EFFICIENCY MONOGRAPHS 

STANDARDS IN 
ENGLISH 



A COURSE OF STUDY IN ORAL AND 

WRITTEN COMPOSITION FOR 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

BY 

JOHN J. MAHONEY 

PRINCIPAL STATE NORMAL SCHOOL 
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS 




YONKERS- ON -HUDSON, NEW YORK 

WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

1917 






t% 



WORLD BOOK COMPANY 

THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE 
Established, 1905, by Caspar W. Hodgson 

YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NeW YoRK 

2126 Prairie Avenue, Chicago 



Publishers of the following professional works : 
School Efficiency Series, edited by Paul H. 
Hanus, complete in thirteen volumes; Edu- 
cational Survey Series, three volumes already 
issued and others projected; School Efficiency 
Monographs, four numbers now ready, others 
in active preparation 



v.> 



JUL 19 1917 



0CI.A46788O 



SEM : MSE-I 



Copyright, 1917, by World Book Company 
All rights reserved 



PREFACE 

The Course of Study herewith submitted is the out- 
come of an investigation of the language problem in Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts, which was carried on for a space 
of two years, 1913-1915, under the direction of the writer, 
who during that period served as Assistant Superintendent 
of Schools in the city named. It would seem to be im- 
portant at this time to state the purposes, methods, and 
results of that investigation, in order that those who 
think it worth while to use this course may be able prop- 
erly to do so. Hence the following:^ 

In January and February, 1913, a series of conferences on 
English in the Cambridge public schools brought out the follow- 
ing points: 

1. That the English work in the schools was unsatisfactory. 

(Proposition tentatively accepted.) 

2. That there was considerable haziness of opinion as to just 

exactly wherein it was unsatisfactory. (Examination 
needed.) 

3. That there was also considerable haziness of opinion as to 

just exactly why it was unsatisfactory. (Examination 
needed.) 

Examination of Proposition No. 2 

Having accepted as tentatively true the first proposition, it 
became necessary before any advance step could be taken to 
find out definitely and clearly jv^t what was the matter with the 
English. The place selected for investigation was the first- 
year work in the High and Latin School. This grade was chosen 
because it seemed logical to assume that pupils, on graduating 
from the elementary school, should show a definite standard 
of achievement, which might be expressed simply and concretely. 

^ Reprint from School and Society, issue of July 17, 1915. 



PREFACE 

(The definition of the standard was confined first to written 
EngHsh.) 

The beginning of this investigation (to discover a standard for 
the elementary schools) was made from a negative viewpoint. 
Following a conference with the teachers of freshman English, 
in which the purpose of the investigation was talked over at 
length, a questionnaire was sent to them. They were asked to 
state very concretely the important weaknesses found most 
conspicuously on freshman papers. They understood that they 
were to set down those weaknesses which, by their very nature, 
branded an EngHsh paper as unsatisfactory from the point of 
view of a teacher of freshman English. Conversely, of course, 
it followed that the absence of the weaknesses set down would 
mean work satisfactory from the same viewpoint. 

The conspicuous weaknesses were reported by eighty per 
cent of the teachers as follows: 

1. Poor sentence structure, 

(a) The comma sentence. 

(b) The clause sentence. 

(c) The sentence with marked awkwardness. 

2, Misspelling of common words. 

In the week following, a freshman test was given under rigid 
conditions, and corrected for the above points only. Thirty 
per cent of the papers revealed poor sentence structure. Shortly 
afterwards a similar test was given in the graduating classes of 
the elementary schools, and, corrected with these points only in 
mind, revealed thirty-six per cent of the papers as poor in sen- 
tence structure. (The misspelled words were tabulated also on 
a percentage basis. Unfortunately, the tabulations are not just 
now at hand. The statement, however, as to the prevalence 
of common words misspelled was borne out.) 

Taking, then, the result of the above examination, both of 
teachers and of pupils, as a basis, we succeeded, after a series of 
conferences, in formulating the following as a standard of achieve- 
ment in EngHsh for pupils about to enter the High School: 

[vi] 



PREFACE 

Pupils should be able (a) To write an interesting "page of clean- 
cut sentences, unmarked by poor spelling or common grammatical 
errors. (Based on above.) (b) To talk for a few minutes in an 
interesting way, using clean-cut sentences and good enunciation. 
(Formulated by teachers in conference.) 

These points — minimum standards — were made the end 
to be attained by the new course of study which it became neces- 
sary to write. From the standpoint of economy of time, the 
first advance step had been taken by defining clearly just what 
was most conspicuously the matter with the work in English at a 
certain stage. To remedy what was wrong, teachers were told 
very distinctly what to do. They might do more. They might 
teach the idea of the paragraph. They might teach various 
points of technique and of style in the upper grades. In the 
course of study as laid out, work of this kind was included. 
But there was to be no more "shooting in the air." Certain 
things were to be done, regardless. And these things were of so 
elementary a character that the teachers knew they could be done. 

The next step was to set down in a course of study how they 
could be done with most economy of time, so that fiurther time 
might be secured for points only less essential. This meant 

Examination of Proposition No. S 

Why was the work unsatisfactory in the elementary school .^^ 
Of course, it immediately appears that the chief reason was the 
absence of any such definite ultimate goal as above set down. 
This goal having been fixed, however, there remained to investi- 
gate, from the point of view of economy of time in EngUsh, 
what changes, if any, and what additions, if any, should be made 
in the course of study then in existence. 

Another series of conferences was held with teachers, and the 
course of study examined. The following points were brought 
out: 

1. Waste existed because not enough time was devoted to the 
study of EngKsh and Enghsh grammar combined in grades 6, 
7, and 8. 

[vii] 



PREFACE 

2. Waste existed in that teachers were not by any means 
agreed as to what the term "EngUsh" really meant. Some 
thought of it mainly as grammar. Some thought of grammar 
teaching as the chief means toward securing good EngHsh. 
Some disregarded oral English as a factor almost entirely. 
Unanimity of viewpoint was lacking. 

3. Waste existed because the course was outlined, grade by 
grade, in a general way, with considerable general repetition, no 
definite step by step advance being indicated. There was need 
of standardization all along the line. 

4. Waste existed in that unimportant technicaUties were 
found emphasized in the course, while those of most vital 
importance were largely subordinated. Furthermore, certain 
technical points were introduced in the course at points where 
they could be taught only with great waste of time, if at all. 
An instance of this is "shall and will" — grade 3. Proper 
emphasis, proportion, balance, was lacking. 

5. Waste existed in that some of the methods used in teaching 
were of a kind not likely to yield the greatest commensurate 
results. The reproductive form of the theme was too much 
in evidence. Some teachers still clung to the idea of asking 
for long, carefully planned themes, infrequently written. An 
examination into the character of the subjects assigned brought 
out the scarcity of the subject that was at the same time pointed 
and stimulating. 

6. In oral English waste existed in that not enough time or 
serious, intelligent practice was given to it to secure any results 
worth while. Inaccuracies in speech were drilled on in hap- 
hazard fashion, teachers too often reljdng on rules of grammar 
rather than on stimulating and continuous drill to estabUsh 
correct forms. Mumbling and indistinctness of articulation 
testified to the fact that the recitation was not used as a medium 
for the teaching of oral Enghsh. 

And so on. 

The task became to formulate a course of study definite in its 
aim, clear and simple in its requirements grade by grade, sug- 
gestive and economical as to its methods — the end being to 

[ viii ] 



PREFACE 

attain a minimum standard of achievement with httle waste of 
time or energy. The most important and the most difficult 
piece of this task became the setting of grade standards which 
might serve as suggestions to the teacher in any grade as to what 
she might reasonably be expected to accompHsh in that grade. 
This task has been partly accompHshed. Even if the results 
do not come up to our expectations, it will nevertheless have been 
worth while. It has opened our eyes to the fact that there are 
many ways in which we can secure economy of time in the 
teaching of Enghsh. 

Since the above was written, the course has been 
finished, and has lived through its trial stage. In the 
making of it many people have had a share, notably 
those Cambridge teachers who served on the several 
committees. To these teachers and to the Superintendent 
of the Cambridge schools, Mr. M. E. Fitzgerald, the 
writer acknowledges his indebtedness. To the various 
other people, teachers and writers of courses, named and 
unnamed, whose ideas have been appropriated as needed, 
the same acknowledgment is due. It may seem un- 
gracious, when so many have helped, to name specifically 
one or two. It cannot be left unsaid, however, that this 
course would be a far poorer one had not the writer 
enjoyed the collaboration of Superintendent Bernard M. 
Sheridan of Lawrence, whose work in the language field 
has won country-wide recognition. To him, especially, 
the undersigned expresses obligation. 

John J. Mahoney 



Cix] 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v 

Part One: A Course in Language 1 

Part Two: Outline by Grades: 

First Grade 41 

Second Grade 51 

Third Grade 62 

Fourth Grade 73 

Fifth Grade 90 

Sixth Grade 104 

Seventh Grade 120 

Eighth Grade 136 

Part Three: Literature Outhne 157 

Appendix: 

A. Pictiure List 177 

B. Common Errors and their Correction 182 

C. Model Letter Forms 192 

D. Time Allotment in Language 193 

Index 195 



[xi] 



PART ONE 
A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

PART ONE 
A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

WHAT WE MEAN TO TEACH 

Part I of this pamphlet is given the title "A Course 
in Language." Just what do we mean by that word 
"language"? It may be that we all have the same 
understanding as to what the term implies. If so, very 
good. If not, we shall waste a great deal of time in hazy 
thinking at the very outset. Teachers generally agree 
as to what "arithmetic" means, and as to the range and 
choice of topics to be taught in an arithmetic course. 
"History" causes Uttle misimderstanding. "Geography" 
means but one thing. But when it comes to "language," 
one teacher is apt to think of it as one thing, another 
teacher as another. 

For purposes of clearness, then, it is highly important 
to write down specifically at the very outset just what 
phases of school work we are to deal with in this course. 
Here they are: 

i. Oral language 

(a) Training and practice in connected talking. 
(6) Voice, articulation, pronunciation, inflection. 

(c) Exercises on common errors of speech. 

(d) Building up a vocabulary. 
2. Written language 

(a) Training and practice in written com- 

position. 

(b) Exercises in technicalities of written work, 

including spelling. 

[1] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Technical grammar is not included in this language 
plan. Too many teachers still regard technical grammar 
as the backbone of language teaching, and too many- 
courses still yield to this subject the great proportion 
of the total amount of time given to language work. 
As a matter of fact, however, rules of grammar do not 
fashion speech; they record its crystalhzation. They 
never estabhsh habits of correct usage; they serve rather 
to make that usage more intelligent and self-directive. 
Knowledge of the rule would be sufficient '*if to do were 
as easy as to know what 'twere good to do." Every 
teacher knows that it is not. Technical grammar has a 
place in the grammar school. Its value in linguistic 
training is by no means unimportant. Teachers will 
continue to teach it as heretofore within the time specially 
allotted to the subject in the school program. But they 
are not to teach it in the time allotted to EngUsh as 
outlined. 

Besides grammar, the broader field of English in the 
elementary school includes reading, literature, and spelling. 
The fact that these subjects, like grammar, are excluded 
from consideration in the present language plan does not 
mean that teachers should not use these subjects for the 
purposes of teaching language. As a matter of fact, 
there is included in this pamphlet a Course in Literature. 
It is set down as a separate course and given a special 
time-allotment for purposes of clearness only. No 
teacher will hesitate, however, to make an intelligent 
correlation here. That every lesson should be a language 
lesson is very trite, but also very true. The reading period 
and the language period may often be so conducted as to 
be considered two halves of one whole. By means of the 
reading lesson, completed by the language lesson, the child 
not only grows in knowledge and appreciation of the best 

[2] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

things written in English, but also in mastery of form and 
ability to speak and write more eflFectively. Technical 
grammar, in the grades where it is studied, should be of 
great help in rationalizing the use of correct forms of 
speech. The history lesson, too, offers an excellent occa- 
sion for practice in oral language. Nevertheless, none of 
the language training incidental to these subjects should 
be regarded as substitutes for the distinct teaching of 
language as outHned in this pamphlet. The specific 
lines of language work laid down in this course must be 
given their full quota of time each week, in addition to hav- 
ing the contributory value of the other Enghsh subjects. 

HOW MUCH SHALL BE TAUGHT.^ 

So far we have been saying that this course in English 
is intended to include certain particular phases of language 
work and to exclude others. We have indicated in a 
general way the scope or range of the course, and in a 
general way have set certain Umitations on it. It now 
becomes necessary to ask a few pointed questions. Just 
how much are we to expect, in the way of English power 
and accomplishment, from a pupil graduating from the 
elementary school .^^ In terms of the outline above set 
down, what standard of attainment can we reasonably 
expect from the grammar-school graduate .f^ What are 
the things, put concretely, that the pupil must know; 
and conversely, what are the mistakes that he must not 
commit? What, in brief, should be the aim of this 
language course.'^ 



[3] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

THE AIM OF THIS COURSE IN ENGLISH 

The question last asked really includes the others. 
The aim of this course in English for the elementary 
schools is : 

i. To graduate pupils able to talk or recite for a few 
minutes in an interesting way, using clean-cut 
sentences and good enunciation, 

2. To graduate pupils able to write an interesting 
paragraph of clean-cut sentences, unmarked by 
misspelled words and by common grammatical 
errors. 

Courses of study in English, as a general thing, have been 
very vague in their requirements and have usually called 
for more on paper than could possibly be accomplished. 
In language, as in other elementary-school subjects, 
we must hark back to the essentials. There are a good 
many things that we should teach, if we can. There 
are a few things that we must teach. We must graduate 
pupils from our elementary schools able to talk and write 
as above set down. The requirements stated may seem 
somewhat arbitrary. They may seem not to tell the 
whole story. As a matter of fact, we may well expect 
teachers to do more with the great majority of the pupils 
in the grades. But teachers may not do less. The re- 
quirements are reasonable and definite. They constitute 
a goal toward which teachers may work from the first 
grade up. This is the minimum standard of achievement 
for the elementary school. There remains to indicate 
in this connection, still with a view to definiteness, the 
minimum standard of achievement, the degree of accom- 
plishment which each grade should strive for in the teaching 
of both spoken and written English. An attempt will be 

[4] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

made to do this under the assignment of work by grades. 
If this standard can be set, definitely, grade by grade, 
a great step in advance will have been taken, because 
teachers will know, from the first year up, just what they 
are expected to accomplish in English, just as they know 
this now with regard to arithmetic or grammar. Before 
attempting this, however, it becomes necessary to take 
up the topics of spoken and of written English separately, 
and to point out some of the problems there found. 

(1) Oral Language 

Not very often is the individual called upon to submit 
to a test of his knowledge of arithmetic or history or Latin. 
But his spoken English is being passed upon by his fellow 
men every day of his life; and largely upon the basis of 
this test is he adjudged an educated or an uneducated 
man. Moreover, success in business and intercourse 
with people depends more than is commonly realized upon 
power to talk well. Yet of all the subjects in the class- 
room this is most ineffectively taught. Indistinct utter- 
ance, grammatical inaccuracies, a poverty of words, a 
lack of anything approaching fiuency — these are con- 
demning characteristics of too many of our grammar- 
school graduates. Some of the causes of the failure to 
secure results may be here noted: 

1. Oral work is frequently not regarded as a help to 
written composition. Too often a subject is assigned 
or chosen and the pupil told to write; that's all. As a 
matter of fact, oral work should almost invariably accom- 
pany written work. Both are but forms of self-expression. 
The boy who learns to talk well will write well inevitably. 

2. The other subjects of the program are not utilized 
as a help in teaching oral composition. The reading les- 

[5] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

son, with its discussion and story telling, the history 
recitation, current events, even arithmetic itself — all 
provide occasion for a *'free and natural use of language 
on the part of the pupils and for fruitful observation of 
their speech on the part of the teacher." The pupil 
should be encouraged, when he recites, to recite in an 
orderly way. This in time tends to beget orderly think- 
ing and leads to orderly presentation of thought in all 
composition work. The process is slow, and the results 
secured in any one year may seem disappointingly meager. 
Teachers should remember that there are other years 
ahead, and that the school cannot work wonders when its 
influence is confined to five hours in the day of twenty- 
four. They should also remember, though, that "every 
lesson is a language lesson," and intelligently make use 
of the many means presented to purify the child's language 
and cause it to grow. 

3. Subjects assigned for oral language are often 
indefinite and uninteresting, often too large. There is 
nothing gained in holding an exercise merely for the sake 
of leading children to talk. It should have that dynamic 
quality that makes children see some purpose in the talk- 
ing. The other subjects in the program, as suggested 
above, contribute to this end. A common mistake is to 
allow pupils to talk on subjects vague and large. The 
subject should be very definite and limited in its phases. 
(This topic is merely referred to here. For a fuller dis- 
cussion see under "Written Language," page 16.) 

4. Much of the mumbling and indistinctness of ar- 
ticulation so common in school is due to the fact that the 
child has not the conception that he is addressing an 
audience with the purpose of actually saying or telling 
something worth while. In reading, he reads to the 
teacher with the audience behind him. In recitations, 

[6] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

he recites to the teacher, and what he says is lost on those 
in the rear. Since he has no interest in talking clearly 
and distinctly, that his fellow pupils may hear, he does 
not do so. The teacher should, at all times, try to es- 
tablish the situation of pupil talking and audience listening. 

5. Children persist in grammatical inaccuracies be- 
cause teachers too often rely on rules of grammar to 
correct them. The pupil hears these incorrect forms 
over and over again on the street. Obedient to the 
principle of motor reaction, such forms invariably "write 
themselves out" in his daily speech. It is of little avail 
that the pupil knows what is the right. He must hear it; 
say it; say it again and again and again; say it until 
the motor reaction is so strong that the right form stamps 
its impression on the spinal cord and wipes out the wrong. 
This means continued practice on the right forms of speech. 

The above points are stated at this time briefly. This 
brevity, however, implies no disparagement of their 
importance. Teachers, it is felt, will recognize their 
importance, and teachers are asked to refer to them again 
and again for guidance when the work in oral composition 
seems discouraging. This work undoubtedly will seem dis- 
couraging at times. At best it is hard to measure from 
year to year the growth in a child's power over speech. 
And with the measure of growth lacking, the task of 
counteracting during the five hours in school the demoral- 
izing influences of the street becomes, to say the least, 
a joyless one. It is the purpose of this course, however, 
as before stated, to suggest to teachers definitely, both 
in oral and in written English, just what and just how 
much they are to do, grade by grade. • These prescriptions 
will in themselves constitute a yardstick for measuring 
growth in English power. No claim is made here that 
these prescriptions are necessarily the ones that should be 

[7] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

made. If the teaching of oral EngHsh is the most diflSeult 
task the school has to face, — and it undoubtedly is, — 
then the attempt to organize and standardize a body of 
teaching material hitherto largely unorganized and 
unstandardized is difficult, too. Everything, however, 
has a beginning. This course — in so far as it relates 
to oral English — will have made a very good beginning 
if it points out clearly the causes of failure in the past, 
and sets out a few guideposts and a few milestones on the 
road to future achievement. 

In the outline (p. 1) the scope of the work falling under 
the head of oral English was indicated in this way: 

1. Training and practice in connected talking. 

2. Voice, articulation, pronunciation, inflection. 

3. Exercises on common errors of speech. 

4. Building up a vocabulary. 

A little discussion on these headings may not be out 
of place here. 

1. TRAINING AND PRACTICE IN CONNECTED TALKING 

This work is most valuable when it stimulates the child 
to jree self-expression. Every teacher knows the difficulty 
of inducing children to express themselves with any degree 
of freedom with regard to their own experiences. Indeed, 
a great many teachers are of the opinion that most children 
have no experiences about which they can talk. This 
certainly would seem true, if we are to judge from the utter 
dumbness and painful embarrassment displayed by so 
many victims during the period assigned to oral composi- 
tion. It is a fact, however, that with skillful stimulation 
and encouragement, the pupil talks best and most interest- 
ingly on subjects that represent his personal knowledge, 
peculiar to himself. 

[8] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

The imagination, also, especially in the ease of younger 
children, furnishes a fertile field for exploitation. The 
child knows what the pleasures of imagination are. He 
could as soon stop thinking as stop imagining. If the 
atmosphere in the schoolroom is right, he will not hesitate 
even to imagine '*out loud." Teachers can induce pupils 
to talk from the storehouses of their experience and their 
imagination. It is no easy task, as admitted above; 
but it is distinctly worth while. 

This point is here brought out because of the fear that 
in the period devoted to oral composition too much time 
has been given hitherto to merely reproductive talking. 
Pupils have been asked to retell a story read by the 
teachers or by themselves, or in some way to reproduce 
something that others have said, done, written, or thought. 
Memory is the principal factor in this kind of work; 
original thought and experience are not developed by it 
to any considerable degree. As a source of thought for 
oral composition, therefore, reproduction should be 
sparingly used. 

Yet it must be said again, in this connection, that there 
is no thought of depreciating the value that must come 
to oral language from the use of the daily school program 
with all the abundant and rich material provided by the 
work in reading, literature, history, nature study, picture 
study, etc. Once more, "Every lesson is a language 
lesson." Every time a child talks he is talking "oral 
language," if one may so express it. The teacher who 
skillfully avails herself of all that is appealing, thought- 
provoking, dramatic, inspiring, in the daily program will 
not go far wrong. On the contrary, she will, in all prob- 
ability, be teaching in a very stimulating way. But then, 
after all, if she does this, she will not be asking children 
simply to reproduce, in the sense referred to above. 

[9] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Another thought: Oral composition means more than 
mere '* talking" on the part of the pupil. There is an old 
saying that "talk is cheap." It is to be feared that not 
a little of the "talking" that takes place in the "oral 
language" period is cheap, indeed, in the sense that it is 
of little value, except as it gives the teacher a chance to 
engage in the somewhat negative performance of cor- 
recting occasional grammatical errors. It profits little 
that children should merely talk. They should talk to 
some purpose — to different purposes, in fact, at different 
times. Just what these purposes or aims are, both the 
teacher and the pupils should have in mind at all times. 
It is even more important in the case of spoken than of 
written English that teachers from grade to grade should 
know just what they are aiming at, and why. For all the 
qualities that are to be developed in the written composi- 
tion may be, and ought to be, developed first in the oral 
work: good sentences, grammatical correctness, choice of 
words, and so on. The development, of course, will have 
very humble beginnings. But there must be development, 
improvement, all along the line, or the work is aimless. 
"The pupil who talks well will write well." Is it not so.^^ 

2. VOICE, ARTICULATION, PRONUNCIATION, INFLECTION 

"Talk distinctly! Don't mumble your words!" The 
writer recommends this as a slogan to every teacher of 
oral English. For some reason or other these matters 
of voice, articulation, etc., have been yielded little place 
heretofore in most language outlines. This may be due 
to the fact that only recently has oral English come into 
its own as an important phase of language instruction. 
However this may be, it must be evident that the topics 
above mentioned are tremendously important if teachers 

CIO] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

are to approximate the end of our English teaching. 
When pupils write, the unforgivable sins are bad sentence- 
structure, grammatical errors, and misspelled words. 
Correspondingly, when pupils talk, the unforgivable sins 
are again grammatical errors of speech and indistinct, 
slovenly vocalization. The American voice has long been 
criticized. And it is undoubtedly too much to expect 
that teachers can find time to change the unlovely quality 
of voice so many times encountered in their pupils. That 
would mean a special course in voice training, which, 
however desirable for its results, is regrettably beyond our 
scope. But teachers can insist that pupils open their 
mouths and sound final syllables and consonants. Teachers 
can insist that pupils talk in a tone that can be heard 
clearly by the boy in the back seat. Teachers can, by 
persistent drill on words commonly mispronounced or 
half pronounced, do a great deal toward making oral 
English in the University City a model for places of 
supposedly less culture. Teachers can, by keeping eter- 
nally at it, abolish the "schoolroom tone" and that very 
fashionable inflection manifested by keeping the voice 
up, instead of letting it down at the end of a sentence. 
These things can be done, and teachers are asked to keep 
at them everlastingly. 

Below are noted some of the oral defects most com- 
monly occurring. The Appendix includes lists of words 
commonly mispronounced. It is not meant that either 
of these lists should be prescriptive; every teacher will 
think of many more instances, and better ones, than those 
cited. It is really far more important that each teacher 
should make her own lists from year to year, using the 
material suggested only in so far as it suits her needs. 
And most important of all is consistent, persistent drill. 
" Talk distinctly ! Don't mumble your words ! " 

[11] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Some of the mispronunciations to he especially noted: 

1. "Talkin'," "writin'," etc. 

2. An r is often inserted or added when none ought to 

be heard, as " I saw-r a ship " ; '* Emma-r Abbott." 

3. Careful attention should be given to the proper 

pronunciation of the vowel u, as in Tuesday, duty, 

4. Th is often pronounced as c? or / — as found in dem 

for them, or tree for three, 

5. LenHh and strenHh are heard for length and strength. 

6. Winder for window; want ter for want to; yeh or 

yep for yes. And so on. 

Words and phrases for special practice: 

1. Sleep, sleek, sleet, sleeve. 

£. TweKth, breadth, length, depth, strength, width. 

3. Particularly, especially, certainly. 

4. Just, worst, crust, finest, youngest, greatest, break- 

fast. 

5. Kindness, goodness, helpless, thoughtless, careless. 

6. Give me, let me, was he, I don't know, don't you. 

7. Whittle, whistle, wheel, white, when, whether, 

which. 

8. Would you, could you, did you, can you, had you. 

9. This one, that one, which one, let her go, let him do 

it. 

3. EXERCISES ON COMMON ERRORS OF SPEECH 

Unlike the errors just dealt mth, which are found in 
spoken language only, grammatical inaccuracies mar both 
oral and written language. The boy who says "he don't" 
wall write ''he don't" invariably. Therefore the teacher 
should and will strive to correct such inaccuracies both 
in the oral language period and when they appear on the 
written page. They are treated in this course as a phase 

[12] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

of oral English because of the conviction, expressed before, 
that the pupil who talks correctly will write correctly. 
The teacher has a dozen opportunities to correct oral 
errors, to every one in written work. This happens natu- 
rally, because even in school pupils talk — at least they 
should talk — much more than they write. Right here, 
however, it may be said again — what has been said al- 
ready — that common errors of speech cannot be corrected 
through the medium of lessons in technical grammar. 
It is no doubt true that certain rather subtle phases of 
correct speech are best understood and mastered only 
after the grammar of the mother tongue or of a foreign 
language has been taught. This does not apply, however, 
to the kind of imgrammatical speech indulged in by the 
average schoolboy. Such a boy may know, as he knows 
the batting averages in the Big Leagues, that the verb 
and its subject must agree in number. For all this he 
serenely uses "they was" in private conversation and in 
the language period. Good English is a habit. It must be 
mastered by practice, not by rule. This fact cannot be 
emphasized too strongly. 

At first thought it would seem rather an appalling task 
to attempt to correct in the eight years of the elementary- 
school course all the grammatical inaccuracies heard in 
the classroom. There is, indeed, no thought that this 
result will be obtained. We must not expect what is at 
least improbable, if not impossible. It is interesting to 
note, however, that, after all, the actual range of errors 
made by children is small. Verb errors make up a very 
large proportion of the total number. The misuse of 
pronouns is alone responsible for a great many more. 
Some one has estimated that if children could be taught 
to use correctly the past tense and perfect participle of 
thirteen verbs, one sixth of all the errors made by the 

[13] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

children could be eliminated. The task, though difficult 
enough, is really not so dijQScult as it seems. In the outline 
by grades, under the head of oral English, teachers will 
find certain errors allotted to each grade.^ The distri- 
bution is an arbitrary one, and the lists have been made 
comprehensive rather than selective. Teachers need not 
take up every error noted. They most positively should 
not drill on errors simply because they happen to be 
listed for the grade. Some errors they will recognize as im- 
portant and typical, and will drill on these unremittingly. 
So, too, they will select errors Usted for grades either above 
or below their own, and will drill on these, likewise un- 
remittingly, should the needs of the class demand it. All 
of which means only that teachers will use their common 
sense in this, as in other phases of school work. Given 
common sense, systematic drill, and a patient optimism, 
the task of purifying the child's language becomes one not 
unconscionably hard. 

We have been emphasizing drill, repetition, rather than 
formal grammar, as the means of eliminating grammatical 
errors. A caution is needed here. In language, as in every 
other school subject, repetition soon begins to illustrate 
the application of the law of diminishing returns. Sheer, 
straight, unadulterated drill is seldom a dynamic activity. 
It may, indeed, bring results; but they come only at a 
vastly uneconomical expenditure of time and toil. The 
young child, in particular, has no special incentive to talk 
correctly. Indeed, he will hate the very notion of talking 
correctly — just as so many children in the past have 
hated this or that exercise in school — if correct forms 
are the teacher's excuse for hours of hateful drill. But 
if the element of a real, lively interest can be secured in 

^ See pages 47, 55, 66, 77, 94, 109, 125, 141. 
[14] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

this work, the curse is removed. The exercises that aim 
to inculcate correct forms should he made as interesting 
as possible, to the end that attention may he effortless and 
recollection pleasant In fact, the play's the thing. This 
idea is embodied in the Formal Language Games which 
appear in the Appendix (page 184). These games are 
interesting because of the activity involved. Constant 
repetition is a factor, but it is called forth by a natm-al 
situation. Games such as those suggested are no experi- 
ment. They have been tried out in Cambridge with 
marked success. In fact, many of the illustrations cited 
have been furnished by a Cambridge teacher, who has used 
them for years. Teachers are asked not necessarily to 
adopt these particular games, but rather to adopt the idea 
and to invent others in accordance with the needs of their 
classes.^ 

4. BUILDING UP A VOCABULARY 

This is a topic to be worked upon largely in the upper 
grades, and will be given some specific attention in the 
outline for those grades. The writing vocabulary of a child 
is smaller than his speaking vocabulary, and much smaller 
than the one familiar to him through his reading. It 
becomes the task of the school to induce the child to use 
first in speech, and second, on the written page, some of 
the expressions which he gleans through his reading in 
school or out of it. This can be done consciously by the 
teacher, but it should not be done arbitrarily. The 
"spelling-sentence" is a type of exercise that has been 
much overworked and much abused. But the "spelling- 
sentence" can readily be made to serve the purpose of 

^ For other language games see Language Games for All Grades, by 
Deming, published by Beckley-Cordy Company, Chicago; a very help- 
ful little book. 

[15] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

vocabulary building if the teacher skillfully forms a cor- 
relation here with written English. Adjectives and verbs 
oflFer the best material for vocabulary building, and the 
occasional lesson in synonyms is valuable. As a phase 
of vocabulary building, also, pupils should be led to en- 
large their stock of connectives, to the end that sentence 
transition may not always turn on the crude use of the 
stock conjunctions "and," "then," "but," and "so." 
In the upper grades it is well worth while to give lists of 
connectives and allow children to experiment with their 
use, after some study is made of that use through the 
medium of the reading lesson or of some good models. 
But of this, more at the proper time. 

(2) Written Language 

The aim of the work in written language has already 
been set down: 

"To graduate pupils able to write an interesting para- 
graph of clean-cut sentences, unmarked by misspelled 
words or by common grammatical errors." 

From what has been said already, and from what will 
be said scores of times in this course, the teacher will 
gather that pupils must have acquired the sentence sense 
before graduation, must spell correctly, must have attained 
a certain measure of correctness in the technicalities of 
written language. Now the attainment of correctness 
in such matters as punctuation, capitalization, good 
spelling, the sentence sense, and so on, constitutes a prob- 
lem that is not present in the teaching of oral language. 
When the child writes, it becomes necessary for him 
to remember that the sentence should begin with a capital 
and end with a period. The words that he uses so freely 

[16] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

in talk must be correctly spelled, or the page is marred. 
He must remember even to write in his best fashion, 
or the paper may be returned because of poor penmanship. 
Forced to think of these mechanical things, he will for 
a long time lack in writing the freedom that he may dis- 
play in speech. For this reason it is important that in 
the early years pupils be required to write little. It is 
also extremely important that in the early years the only 
technicalities taught be those most necessary for the cor- 
rect expression of the simplest sentences on the written 
page. In the past, the mistake has been made of attempt- 
ing to teach too many technicalities at once. The result 
has been what is always the case when fundamentals and 
things less fundamental are given equal importance: 
nothing is learned well, and the pupil comes to the 
eighth grade lacking that automatic knowledge of the 
essentials of written English that he should have secured 
in the lower grades. 

Correct written English, involving a mastery of the points 
indicated above, must be secured. That goes without 
saying. But this matter of correctness should not be 
secured at so uneconomical an expenditure of time as to 
leave no time for the securing of other things hardly less 
important. This course aims to teach the more important 
technicalities and to teach them well. Sufficient attention 
is given them so that they may be taught well. The 
teacher will doubtless note that many time-honored 
topics are omitted entirely, or at least receive scant 
consideration. This need give no cause for alarm. In 
reality it is spending time uneconomically to put in days 
and weeks on quotations, a technicality within the sen- 
tence, if the sentence sense is not established. It is time 
absolutely wasted to talk unity and coherence or the 
technic of paragraph structure to pupils who don't know 

[17] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

how to spell. Good sentence structure, good spelling, a 
few important technicalities thoroughly mastered — these 
constitute on the side of correctness, or form, a task 
sufficient to take up all the time that should be spent on 
form in the grammar grades. If the teaching is good, 
these points of form can be taught so thoroughly as to 
make simple punctuation, capitalization, good sentence 
structure, etc., matters of automatic control by the time 
the pupil reaches the upper years of the course. Some- 
thing is wrong somewhere if this result is not secured. 
On the other hand, if this result is secured, the elementary 
teacher can be satisfied that in so far as the formal side of 
language work is concerned, the pupil is well prepared 
for the high school. 



1. ENGLISH THAT IS "INTERESTING 



» 



Correct English, then, within the narrow Umits set 
down, is something for the teacher to secure as a sine 
qua non. But, as has been hinted, not all the time given 
to written English should be spent in the attempt to se- 
cure English that is merely correct. Form is important. 
But form without thought is barren. The teaching that 
secures correctness of form only is not real language 
teaching; for the theme that is conventional and colorless, 
even though it be correct, has no particular value as a 
piece of language work. 

True language training is giving skill in self-expression 
— the expression of the individual's own experiences, 
his own thoughts, his own feelings, his own way of looking 
at things. The first step is to rouse and stimulate the 
pupil's interest. This generates the second requisite — 
eagerness to tell something clearly and well. In the 
composition period the teacher should aim primarily to get 

[18] - 



A COURSE m LANGUAGE 

from the pupils an interesting incident, a good bit of a 
story, a clever description, etc., ignoring for the time 
being the technical side. The teacher should work to 
develop in her class what has come to be called English 
"power." Not many children can write, or ever will be 
able to write, English glowing with those "purple patches" 
that mark the born stylist. Nevertheless, we are justified 
in expecting from the great majority, now and then, 
themes characterized by those subtle touches that mark 
them as original and "different." Such results can be 
secured if the teacher is clever and skilKul. In the back- 
ground of her mind, and of the pupil's mind as well, there 
should always be the subconscious feeling that the theme 
must be as correct as can reasonably be expected. But 
interesting, spontaneous writing will never be secured 
from pupils if they have the notion that their work is to 
be judged solely or mainly on the basis of the errors that 
may appear. In the WTitten language period the teacher 
must know when to correct, what to correct, and how much 
at a time. Otherwise thought is sacrificed to form. The 
good language teacher finds no such sacrifice necessary. 
She does not minimize the value of correctness; but she 
knows that from the pupil's standpoint "there's all the 
difference in the world between having to say something, 
and having something to say." Her vital task is to bring 
it to pass that children "have something to say." Toward 
this end she bears three things in mind: 

1. That she must select good subjects. 

2. That she must read good models to the class. 

3. That the class must have frequent practice in 

writing short themes. 

It goes without saying that if a pupil really wants to 
write a theme, he will turn out a much better piece of 

[19] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

work than if it presents itself to him merely as a part of 
school routine. A good subject goes a long way toward 
reconciling children to the daily task of composition work. 
Such a subject is at the same time concrete and appealing. 
But it is not enough to assign a subject or to allow one to 
be chosen : the subject must be illuminated. 

Herein lies the value of the model story, the model 
description, the model bit of verse. It is not for repro- 
ductive purpose at all; for reproduction, involving memory 
only, is the least profitable kind of language work. The 
literary model serves a far greater end. It should suggest 
and recall, illumine and interpret, the child's own personal 
experience which he is about to try to put into speech 
or writing. As he listens to something ''finely said" 
by a master, he catches the inspiration to tell what he has 
himseK seen and felt, and along with it he catches here 
and there the choice word and the happy phrase.^ That 
"language is caught, not taught" is the old way of putting 
it. Through the use of the model, the skillful teacher 
leads her class first to unconscious and then to conscious 
imitation of certain correct forms and fine or strong 
expressions, and through repetition of these forms in self- 
expression leads to their unconscious and habitual use. 
Professor Palmer says that a word three times used is 
thereafter a part of one's own vocabulary. In this way 
and not under the spell of a rule of grammar does each 
individual learn to use English correctly. 

The third requisite is frequent practice. Pupils should 
write, not a long, labored theme once in a fortnight, but 
short, one-page themes very frequently. Inspiration, imi- 
tation, practice — these are the guideposts to good English. 

^ For an excellent presentation of the value of good literary models 
in composition writing, and suggestions as to their use, see Cooley's 
Language Teaching in the Grades, Houghton, Mifflin Company. 

[20] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

2. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM "PARAGRAPH" 

We have said that pupils, on graduating from the gram- 
mar school, should be ''able to write an interesting para- 
graph, etc." It is necessary to point out that this term 
is not to be interpreted technically. There is no intention 
of asking teachers to teach the paragraph idea with its 
topic-sentence, amplifying sentences, and so on. It is, 
indeed, a doubtful question if the paragraph idea can be 
really taught at all in the elementary school, without the 
expenditure of a disproportionate amount of time. How- 
ever that may be, this course does not insist on instruction 
in the technical make-up of the paragraph. The term is 
here used rather to indicate the length of the pupil's com- 
position. This should not exceed the single paragraph. 
Expressed in another way, at no time, even in the eighth 
grade, should this length exceed twenty lines, or about the 
amount that can be written on an ordinary page. 

There is no doubt about it that the pupil writes with 
more thought, more interest, and more care if he knows 
that quality is demanded rather than quantity. Every 
teacher is familiar with the piece of written work that 
starts off, a thing of beauty, at the top of page one, and 
ends up, a sorry sight, at the foot of page two. Such a 
composition indicates that the pupil's interest in his task 
has become dissipated. To avoid this dissipation, we set 
down the limit — the single paragraph. In the primary 
grades this may contain not more than three sentences, 
as instanced in the outline for those grades. But from 
the very beginning careful insistence will be laid on the 
correct /orm. Children must not be allowed after Grade 3 
to set down their thoughts in scattered sentences, as they 
sometimes do. They must be taught early to use the 
indented form. It should not be necessary for teachers 

[21] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

of English in high schools to have to insist on indention. 
Mechanical points such as this should be taken care of long 
before pupils reach the upper grades. While only matters 
of form, they affect the appearance of the written page, 
and in language, as in everything else, appearance counts 
for something. 

It may be said in passing that the insistence on the 
short one-paragraph theme means more time for more 
themes. In the good old days, pupils wrote not much 
oftener than once a month. The new idea is that com- 
position is an art acquired by much practice under proper 
guidance and inspiration. The fifteen-minute theme 
daily is the ideal. Lacking time for this, the teacher 
should still see to it that her class is given the opportunity 
to write the short paragraph as frequently as is possible. 

3. "clean-cut sentences" 

If there is any one thought which, more than any other, 
this course should impress on the teacher, it is that the 
sentence is the fundamental unit in language work, and 
that, consequently, the mastery of the sentence is the most 
important matter that the teacher has to handle. Mastery 
of the sentence does not mean skill in handling the sen- 
tence, that skill displayed in the balancing of sentences, 
long and short, in the easy use of the clause, or phrase, 
or in any of those other particulars that make for style. 
Work of this latter kind will be attempted in the upper 
grades, and it is hoped that the great majority of our 
pupils will have attained before graduation some measure 
of this skill, some ability to write sentences that show a 
little evidence of style. But sentence mastery, for which 
the teacher is held absolutely responsible, means much 
less than this. It means that pupils must know just 

[22] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

when a sentence begins and when it ends. It means that 
pupils must not string two or three or four sentences 
together, with only commas between. It means that 
pupils must not ramble on endlessly either in speech or 
in writing, connecting their thoughts with the old familiar 
conjunctions "and," '*but," and "so." It means that 
pupils must not mistake clauses for sentences, and set 
the former oflF by periods instead of commas. With all 
these errors teachers in the elementary schools are only 
too familiar. They mark and mar written language all 
through the grades. High-school English even is not free 
from them, as the following so-called sentences, taken 
from papers written in the Cambridge High and Latin 
School, show: 

"We are having a great time in fall, the chief sport we have in 
faU is football." 

"One Sunday afternoon on a bright and pleasant day I went 
for a ride in a friend of mine's automobile we had a very pleasant 
ride and on our way we passed many beautiful places and we got 
a good view of the places as we passed by." 

"While on my vacation at the beach this summer. We found 
it great sport to watch the boats sailing." 

Sentences similar to the above are found all too fre- 
quently in our high-school work today. That this is so 
is a serious charge against the teaching in the elementary 
schools. The grammar-school graduate, if he knows 
nothing else of the art of composition, should at least 
know how to handle the simple sentence with assurance. 
He should have "the sentence sense," "the sentence 
feeling," "the sentence instinct," — call it what you will, 
— that trained habit of mind by which the completed 
thought is recognized as complete and left to stand by 
itself. This is fundamental above all fundamentals. 

[23] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Failing to teach this, the elementary teacher has failed 
in her task indeed. 

Now the sentence sense will never be taught in the 
elementary schools if the teacher depends on technical 
grammar as the medium of instruction. Of course, the 
sentence is a topic that occupies a very important place 
in the teaching of formal grammar. But long before 
the child has heard of subjects and predicates, he should 
have acquired a very fair notion of what a sentence is; 
and — what is far more important — long before he has 
learned to call a simple sentence by name, he should be 
writing short, simple sentences, crude and choppy, perhaps, 
but nevertheless satisfactory in their indication that the 
foundation is being laid for real language progress later 
on. Training along this line should begin not later than 
the first grade, and for a long time should be confined 
to oral work. In the Outline for Grades 1, 2, and 3 there 
are indicated certain schemes for teaching the beginnings 
of the '* sentence sense." ^ Right here it will be sufficient 
to say that two thirds of our troubles in written com- 
position come from our neglect of oral composition. The 
child who has early been taught to speak in clean-cut 
sentences will give the teacher little annoyance by writing 
otherwise. There is no intimation here that to teach 
children to speak and write in the desired way is an easy 
task. It is, on the contrary, one of the most difficult 
problems that confront the teacher, and requires long- 
continued practice along the right lines before any results 
are assured. But it is in our elementary schools that the 
"sentence sense" must be taught. To talk about teach- 
ing much else in the way of language until children are 
sentence sure is nothing but folly. There is no use in 

1 See pages 41, 42, 49, 58, 68. 

[24] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

trying to build a superstructure when the foundation is 
lacking. And the foundation of all writing is the sentence. 

4. CORRECT SPELLING OF COMMON WORDS 

Ordinarily the matter of spelling is never mentioned 
in a language course. The thought seems to be that lan- 
guage is language and spelling is spelling, and that the 
two have not sufficient connection to warrant their being 
mentioned together in the same pamphlet. As a matter 
of actual fact, however, a misspelled word in a letter from 
a correspondent looms up as a more grievous error than 
any mere weakness in structure or style. And the teacher 
who could correct her hundreds of papers monthly without 
having to deal with bad spelling would consider herseK 
blessed indeed. Spelling is most vitally related to written 
language. It is only when the pupil writes that his 
spelling is exhibited. He may be familiar with hundreds 
of words from his reading, and yet be unfamiliar with their 
spelling, without betraying illiteracy. But in his written 
vocabulary he must be letter perfect or his language is 
spoiled. This written vocabulary, made up of the words 
that children use on paper, is the one that should be drilled 
upon. 

Heretofore, with the spelling and the language work 
almost wholly divorced, we have been teaching the spell- 
ing of words that pupils never use, and neglecting in large 
measure to teach, and teach again until they are taught, 
the words that are being misspelled every day in the week. 
The several well-known studies made during the past few 
years on the material of English spelling all bring out the 
fact that the number of words actually used by children 
in their written work is rather small. (See "Concrete 
Investigation of the Material of Enghsh Spelling," by 

[25] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

W. Franklin Jones, Ph.D.) Of this number, the words 
commonly misspelled constitute again a small proportion. 
The pamphlet just mentioned prints a list of *'one hundred 
spelling demons" in which teachers recognize nearly all 
the words that they correct, over and over again, from the 
first grade to the high school. Now it is not intended to 
prescribe here that no words shall be assigned for spelling 
other than the limited number above referred to. It is 
very much worth while for us all to know how to spell more 
words than we are likely to use in ordinary writing. It 
is very conceivable, for instance, that people may occasion- 
ally wish to use words a bit out of the ordinary. Un- 
questionably they should be able to do so without referring 
to dictionaries or running chances of spelling incorrectly. 
The fact remains, however, that in the interest of good 
written language the first claim on the spelling lesson must 
be given to the words commonly misspelled. Lists of 
these are printed in the Outline by Grades. The words 
most commgnly misspelled have been repeated year after 
year. These words should be regarded as constituting 
spelling material just as much as the words listed in a 
speller. They should be drilled on endlessly until they 
fail to be misused on the written page. They should be 
drilled on, not in the language period, but in the spelling 
period. They should be added to, according as teachers 
meet other words commonly misspelled. At most the 
number will not be very large, and a vigorous campaign 
against them, with no let up, will go a long way toward 
banishing from school compositions the great bulk of the 
spelling errors which daily disfigure them. 



[26] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

5. COMPOSITION SUBJECTS 

If pupils have no special interest in the subject assigned 
by the teacher, or if they are not trained to search their 
own experiences for topics that may be interestingly 
treated, not much can be expected in the way of real 
language results. This point has been touched upon 
before. It is brought out at greater length in this chapter 
because of its great importance. It is a grave mistake 
for a teacher to expect anything worth while in a language 
lesson if, as is so often the case, she says to the class 
vaguely and abruptly, "Choose your own subject today." 
Nine times out of ten, children don't appreciate the fact 
that they know anything worth writing about. This is, 
of course, all wrong. Children's lives are crowded with 
incidents-, they have plenty of experiences, ideas, and 
opinions, which they can express with effect, given the 
proper stimulation. From their hfe at home, in the 
streets, in school; from their sports, amusements, duties, 
tasks; from the things they have heard and seen and felt 
and done; from the things they read and the things they 
imagine; from all these may be drawn an almost endless 
variety of subjects, full of the breath of life and the 
actuality of experience. Subjects of this kind, that come 
within the range of the pupil's knowledge and interest, 
furnish the best kind of composition material. But — 
give proper stimulation. The pupil must be led to appre- 
ciate the fact that he has lived through such experiences. 
He must realize that, in fact, he has "something to say," 
and the teacher must establish such an atmosphere that 
he will have a real desire to communicate this something, 
the same desire that enables him to talk so freely when on 
the street or at home. To stimulate in this way, to estab- 
lish such an atmosphere, to ferret out the topics of interest 

[27] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

from what seems to be the commonplace of the child's 
daily existence — this is a part of the teacher's work that 
requires all her ingenuity. But the thought spent in thus 
making conditions right beforehand will be more than 
repaid in the better quality of the results secured. Chil- 
dren will never write well if they hate the task. From 
time immemorial children have hated the task of writing, 
because they could see no particular purpose in it. One 
of the best ways to give this work some purpose is to 
treat only subjects that are personal to the pupil, fur- 
nishing him an opportunity to tell something that he feels 
is worthy of the telling. 

It is not enough, however, that the subject be of this 
personal nature. Nine out of ten of the ordinary subjects, 
even when assigned by the teacher, are altogether too 
large to be treated with any effect within the limits of a 
single page. Take, for example, such a popular type of 
topic as '*How I Spent My Last Vacation." It is abso- 
lutely impossible for a child to make of this any more than 
a bare catalog of events — first I did this, then I did 
that, and so on — the finished product being a flat, 
"woodeny" conglomeration of unrelated incidents, any 
one of which might have furnished much better material 
for the infusion of that personal touch that lends interest 
and vitality to the work. Similarly, "Our Picnic at the 
Park," while again possessing the virtue of being personal, 
is altogether too expansive a theme to be treated in a 
satisfactory way. Subjects, besides being personal, must 
be definite, brief, pointed — each subject calling up a 
single thought or experience brief enough to be handled 
with something approaching dramatic unity. "When 
My Mother Calls 'Get Up,'" "On the Lake in a Leaky 
Boat," "A Picture in My Schoolroom" — subjects like 
these, by touching on single incidents, establish a single 
[28] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

point of view and make it possible for the child to put 
his own thinking into his composition. In the Outline 
by Grades, lists of subjects of this character are suggested. 
They have been selected from hundreds submitted by 
teachers as those best setting forth the characteristics 
that the good language subject should possess. They are 
all personal, definite, brief. It is hoped that teachers 
will try them out, eliminate those which get no response 
from the pupils, and add new ones from time to time. 
It will be no easy matter for the teacher to train her class 
away from the habit referred to above, that of "cata- 
loging," or of narrating unrelated incidents. But no 
language work will amount to much as long as this 
habit obtains. The surest way of eliminating it is to 
eliminate the subject too expansive, too large, and sub- 
stitute for it the type of subject possessing the opposite 
qualities. 

Before passing, it may be of some value in bringing out 
the distinction between the two ways of handling a sub- 
ject, to quote the following school compositions on the 
same topic, "Coming to School." No comment is neces- 
sary to point out to teachers that one is infinitely superior 
to the other, and the reason therefor. 

Coming to School 

This morning I started from my home about eight 
o'clock to walk to school. When I got to my friend's 
house, she was already outside waiting for me, so we started 
right off. In front of us were a few girls we knew. They 
were all talking about a party they had been to the night 
before. My friend and I were asking each other questions 
about our history lesson, which was to come that morning. 
As we walked fast, we reached school about twenty minutes 
past eight. 

[29] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Coming to School 

It was fifteen minutes after eight o'clock when I started for 
school with an armful of books and a feehng that I had forgotten 
something in my hurry. A Httle farther along, I met my chum, 
who joined me in my haste, for neither of us wanted to spoil 
our records by tardiness, especially so near the beginning of the 
school year. We seemed to make very good time, and were 
within sight of the school building, when I suddenly remembered 
that I had been told to order something at a store which we had 
already passed, on our way to school. So I left my friend, ran 
back a short distance, and entered the store, entirely out of 
breath. As nobody was in sight to wait on me, I coughed as 
loud as I could, and soon a young man came out from the rear 
of the store, slowly putting on his white coat. It seemed to me 
that I stood there half an hour while he fixed his coat and wrote 
down my order, but it was really only two miautes. At the end 
of that time I rushed from the store and ran the remaining short 
distance to the school as fast as I knew how. Luckily I didn't 
have to climb any stairs, but reached my room and sank into my 
chair out of breath, just as the last bell rang. Right there and 
then I made up my mind that I would start for school earher, 
for I do not like such narrow escapes. 

6. CORRECTION OF COMPOSITIONS 

"How shall I correct my written work.^" For some 
years past this problem has been talked about and written 
about more perhaps than any other single topic connected 
with the teaching of English. It is an important question, 
and all the talk and writing pertaining to it has done a 
great deal toward eliminating much in the way of method 
that was at least wasteful, if not positively wrong. But 
there still remains considerable difference of opinion as to 
just what is the right thing to do. Some teachers believe 
that the teacher should note and mark every mistake, 

[30] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

and that papers should be rewritten with every mistake 
removed. Others, in a reaction against the ''reign of 
red ink," work on the theory that httle or no correction 
of papers is necessary, and that correct language habits 
will somehow come down from the skies if the pupil is 
required to write often enough. These teachers are fond 
of quoting "The way to learn how to write is to write." 
This is quite true, but it isn't the whole story. 

As a matter of fact, the question "How shall I correct 
my written work.^" cannot be answered intelligently until 
the other much more important one is answered, "Why 
do I correct my written work.^" 

It is probable that if teachers were asked why the cor- 
rection of class exercises in composition is included as a 
part of the work, in nine cases out of ten they would answer 
that the object is to secure a correct form of composition. 
It is this notion of the purpose of the work, together with 
the methods that are determined by this idea, that has 
made the work in composition correction so unsatisfactory 
in the past. Here, even more than in any other branch 
of the work, the result or the product is of slight im- 
portance compared with the power which it should be 
the aim of the teacher to develop. Very few of us indeed 
are so facile with our pens that we can turn out in a first 
draft a perfect copy of what we wish to say. Most of us 
are compelled to look over our work carefully, to correct 
it, to be perpetually on the lookout for errors in English, 
in punctuation, and, to a somewhat less degree, in spelling. 
It should be the aim of the teacher to give to the children the 
power intelligently to look over their work with a view to 
bringing that work up to the standard of correctness. This 
end can be attained neither by red-inking every mistake, 
for the purpose of future correction, nor by neglecting 
to red-ink at all. It can be attained only by following 

[31] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

out consistently through the grades a method based on 
several very important principles. 

The first of these principles is that there must be some 
degree of progression in the work of correction. It is useless 
to attempt to correct everything in every composition. 
No child should be expected to turn out an absolutely 
perfect paper. To secure a habit of correct expression, 
the only economical procedure is to see to it that the chil- 
dren work from month to month to correct a few mistakes 
at a time. The Outline for Written Work in Part II of 
this report indicates what technical points should be taken 
up in each grade. The points enumerated are rather 
few for each grade, but they have been selected because 
they are typical of the kind of error that must be elimi- 
nated from children's papers in the grammar school. The 
teacher will always be expected to review, of course. 
Furthermore, the teacher should always demand from 
children, as a sine qua non, the best-looking piece of work 
from a mechanical standpoint that children may reasonably 
be expected to produce. Beyond this, however, criticism 
and correction on the part of the teacher should be con- 
fined to the typical grade errors as set down in the outline, 
and these should be worked on a few at a time. Pupils 
will thus be more likely to have in mind, at any given 
period, the errors they are to avoid, and will accordingly 
tend to grow seK-critical. 

In the second place, it is well to remember that the object 
of correcting is not to mark the pupil, but to help the pupil. 
This being so, it follows that the teacher will more likely 
be of genuine service to the pupil if she will enter so 
sympathetically into the work as to appreciate the in- 
dividual difficulties of the writer. Here lies the value of the 
conference period. By sitting down beside the pupil and 
reading with him the work he has submitted, the teacher 

[32] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

can come into a direct personal relationship. This con- 
ference is, with many children, held most effectively 
when they are writing. A teacher may be of most profit 
to many of her pupils at the time of writing as she passes 
about observing the compositions in their process of 
growth. 

Third, pupils should be taught how to criticize and how 
to appreciate intelligently their own and one another's 
work. Thus criticism by the teacher, which is indis- 
pensable, may be supplemented by efficient criticism 
by the writer's classmates. In teaching children how to 
criticize, teachers should have in mind a definite plan of 
development. Points like the following are suggestive: 

1. Read the composition through. 

2. Is it interesting.? Tell one thing that made it so. 

3. Did he write as if he were interested in his subject.? 

4. Did the writer keep to his subject.? Did he put 

anything in it that was unnecessary.? 

5. Were any of the expressions new to you? 

6. Mention any apt word that you noticed. 

7. Indicate a particularly good sentence, or sentences. 

8. Indicate a sentence or sentences that could be 

improved. 

9. Help the pupil to restate it. 

10. Correct grammatical errors. 

11. Correct mechanical errors. 

The child will not make so many blunders, in thought 
or in expression, if the subject assigned is within his scope. 
(See chapter on "Subjects," page 27.) Many probable 
mistakes may also be prevented by forewarning. To 
prevent, go before. 

Lastly, it is well worth while to point out that the 
teacher's corrections should be set down neatly. It is 
not an unusual thing to see children's papers scribbled 

[33] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

over with the teacher's markings. Remember the force 
of example. The teacher should not try to correct every 
paper, nor every mistake on any paper. But what she 
does along this line should be done with care. 

7. COPYING AND DICTATION AS AIDS IN TEACHING 
COMPOSITION 

The dictation exercise, if employed in moderation and 
with a clear understanding of its use, is valuable in helping 
to fix correct habits of written technicalities — spelling, 
capitals, punctuation, and things of that sort. It performs 
the same office as abstract work in arithmetic. While a 
child is writing a composition, the center of his attention 
is occupied by the content, the ideas that are coming to 
the surface for expression, while the technic (the writing, 
spelling, punctuation, etc.) is, or should be, removed to 
the margin of consciousness. In exercises dictated by the 
teacher, on the other hand, we isolate the forms of language 
and focus attention entirely upon them. The content 
comes to the pupil ready-made; he has to think only of 
the form. 

This type of exercise is useful in developing the power 
of seK-criticism, because of the opportunity it affords 
pupils to correct their own papers in every minute detail 
by comparing them with the teacher's blackboard copy, 
uncovered after the writing, or the printed original. 
No exercises are more important than those in which the 
pupil corrects his own written work. Careful and in- 
telligent criticism of his own work fixes correct habits 
and develops a discrimination which helps him to under- 
take new work more confidently and to execute it more 
accurately. The dictation exercise is an especially good 
starting point for training in self -correction, because here 

[34] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

the field of criticism is limited to a small number of points, 
all of which have to do with the mechanics of writing, 
and all of which, besides, are arbitrarily determined by 
the matter dictated. A formula for correction, suited 
to the grade, may be written upon the board or upon 
a card which each pupil has on his desk. Such a formula 
contains, let us say, the following points: 

1. Indenting the paragraph. 5. Comma. 

2. Capitals. 6. Quotation marks. 

3. Periods. 7. Spelling. 

4. Apostrophe. 

The pupils are instructed at first to look through their 
papers for one kind of mistake at a time, until they have 
gone through the list. They correct each error as they 
find it. In this way not many errors will escape them. 
After a while they will outgrow the need for the formula 
as a correction chart. At the beginning, however, it serves 
a very useful purpose, not only because it systematizes 
the correction work, but because it impresses upon the 
pupil's mind more effectively than talking, what the big 
matters of writing technic are, and how necessary it is that 
these should be kept in the front of the mind during every 
minute of writing, until the pupil has abundantly proved 
by the excellence of his work that these things have 
become habitual to him. 

In order to prevent any false notion as to the proper 
place of dictation work, teachers should bear in mind that 
it is an exercise which is almost wholly mechanical, and 
that no amount of dictation alone will make good writers. 
It is concerned with mechanical correctness only. It is 
not even a safe test of the knowledge of language forms. 
The proof of a pupil's mastery of the mechanics is not a 
correctly written dictation lesson, but his habitual cor- 

C35] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

rectness in these matters in his daily writing. The pupil 
who begins all the sentences of a dictation paragraph 
with a capital and ends them with a period may, in his 
free writing, display a gross lack of "the sentence feeling." 
The cadence of the teacher's voice and the natural pause 
which follows the close of a dictated sentence give him the 
cue as to when a period is required and where a capital 
must be employed. The same is true in a lesser degree 
in respect to the other points of technic. Teachers, 
therefore, will make a mistake if they think they can 
teach correctness by much use of the dictation exercise. 
It is a good thing, if rightly used. But dictation must 
be used with moderation and with the full knowledge 
that its chief value is to test the result of the teaching of 
the mechanics. 

Sometimes a teacher is inclined to give an undue amount 
of dictation because her class happens to be poorly 
grounded in the mechanics, and she postpones original 
work until a satisfactory condition obtains with respect 
to her pupil's grasp of technic. That is a double mistake. 
Correctness cannot be produced from use of the dictation 
exercise alone, because the kind of correctness it teaches 
cannot be depended upon to carry over into the pupil's 
free writing. Moreover, to postpone original writing 
until the technic has been fully mastered is a violation of 
a vital principle of composition teaching, which is, that 
the motive for the mastery of form must come from the pupiVs 
interest in a real and living content. To drill for a long time 
for correctness is death to all interest. To permit children 
to write without regard to form is quite as irrational. 
Children must be trained to develop simultaneously (l) 
the desire to express themselves on paper and (2) the 
ability to express themselves in accordance with the 
established rules of correct writing. To accomplish this, 

[36] 



A COURSE IN LANGUAGE 

as has been said before, is the real proof of the good teacher 
of written composition. 

Copying is useful, as an occasional exercise, to train 
pupils in careful observation and exact expression. These 
are qualities sufficiently rare in grown-up people to suggest 
the need of some organized eflFort upon the part of the 
school to develop in children the power to see things 
straight and to report them straight. It is the experience 
of the Civil Service examiners that more people fail in the 
copying test than in any other. The standard of copying 
in all grades is exactness itself, though the matter presented 
in the lower grades should, of course, be much shorter and 
simpler than that which is given to older pupils to copy. 
The mere act of copying from time to time will not lead 
anywhere. Children must be taught right habits of copy- 
ing. In the second grade, for example, the pupil should be 
taught to look at the whole word and then write the whole 
word, not to copy a letter or two, then look at the word 
again, and copy two or three more letters. Even in the 
lower grades the smallest unit should be the word. As 
soon as possible children should learn to look at the whole 
sentence, and instead of copying it word by word, looking 
back each time to the printed page, they should copy a 
whole phrase at a time. Later on the pupils should take 
in the whole sentence at one glance and reproduce it 
without referring to the copy. 

Selections for copying for all grades should be interesting, 
and in the higher grades they should have real literary 
quality. National songs and selections frequently re- 
peated orally (e.g., the "Salute to the Flag") are suitable 
material for copying. It is notorious that children are 
seldom able to write such things correctly. This is because 
they learn the words by ear. 

A time limit should be set to exercises in copying, if a 

[37] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

pupil's power of observation and accuracy are to be rightly 
measured. A teacher cannot measure the power of all 
the individuals in her class if some are given twice as long 
as others to finish the same exercise. Above the fourth 
grade, work in copying should be required of those pupils 
only who have not become rapid and accurate copyists. 
Then a copying test should be given three or four times 
during each year to determine what pupils need to con- 
tinue the work and who may be excused. This test 
should be timed, and the selection should be longer than 
can be done in the time allowed, so that the speed and 
accuracy of every pupil can be rated, after the method 
of the Courtis tests. Any exercise in copying that does 
not keep every child on the tiptoe of alertness defeats 
its only purpose. 

Children should be given material to copy from in their 
textbooks. They should not be asked to write from copy 
on the blackboard. 



[38] 



PART TWO 
OUTLINE BY GRADES 



PART TWO 
OUTLINE BY GRADES 

First Grade 

{The work for the First Grade is entirely oral. Read the 

section on Oral Language, page 5.) 
1. Aims 

(a) To encourage children to talk freely about things 
in which they are interested. 

(6) To secure distinct articulation and a natural speak- 
ing tone. 

(c) To correct the errors of speech assigned in the 
grade outline. 

(d) To make a beginning in securing the "sentence 
sense." 

First-grade teachers will please not be appalled at the 
task set forth. No one expects that these things will be 
jfinally accomplished in Grade I. Every point mentioned 
will be mentioned again in one form or another in the 
succeeding grades. We are looking only for a step-by-step 
advancement, each grade doing its share with reference 
to the work laid out for the course as a whole. Just 
what that share is will depend in some measure on the 
personnel of the class. Where pupils are of the " steamer " 
variety in Grade I, naturally the degree of accomplish- 
ment in free oral talk will be less than in classes made 
up of pupils coming from the ordinary English-speaking 
home. Naturally, too, the inculcation of the "sentence 
sense" will proceed more slowly in such a class. You 
cannot get children to talk "in sentences" until they 
begin to talk. In steamer classes — in all classes — the 
big task is first to secure talking. After that, the teacher 

[41] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

will tone it down, or build it up, as the case may be. 
Mere babbling must be prevented. The "garrulous" 
type of child must be restrained. On the other hand, 
the "monosyllabic" child must be encouraged to expand 
a word into a sentence, then to give two sentences, and 
so on. If all teachers don't accomplish these things and 
the others noted equally well, it is no great calamity. 
The important point is that first-grade teachers all through 
the city should have exactly the same conception as to 
the kind of work that is expected in Grade I, and as to the 
kind to be approximated. The second-grade teachers 
will be satisfied if the first-grade teachers, with these points 
in mind, do the best they can. 

S. Suggestive Topics 

(a) Objects and experiences suggested by the home: 
Playthings, pets, helping, home happenings, anecdotes, 
holiday and Saturday good times. 

(6) Objects and experiences suggested by the school: 
Playmates, on the playground, the reading lesson, drama- 
tization, story reproduction, picture lessons. 

(c) Nature: Flowers, birds, animals, etc. 

(d) Stories read by the teacher or by the children. 

(e) Lessons in manners. 

First, as sources of material for oral composition, should 
come the child's own experience and observation. Second 
in importance comes the story told by the teacher, or 
read in class by the child himself. It is usually the case 
that children reproduce more readily than they talk from 
their own experience. And at first the teacher may well 
make use of the reproduced story. Not all stories, how- 
ever, are fit for reproduction in the lower grades. The 
short, simple story with a clear beginning, plenty of action, 
and a definite end is best. Children talk without hesi- 
[42] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIRST GRADE 

tation about pictures, and these may be profitably em- 
ployed to stimulate ideas. An appendix to this course 
gives a list of pictures that have been selected as best 
suited for language study; and in the Literature Outline 
there are indicated a number of stories for reading to 
children.^ Teachers will please select from the latter list 
such as best lend themselves to reproductive work in the 
first grade. This Outline is an outline only, not a language 
textbook. As such it cannot pretend to include all the 
helpful material that a book might contain. At some 
time later a supplementary pamphlet will be issued con- 
taining sources in greater abundance. 

3. Illustrative Oral Efforts 

The illustrations here cited are taken, for the most part, 
from the work done in Cambridge first grades during the 
past year. They find place here for two reasons: first, 
to show that children actually have ideas to express on 
subjects that are appealing; second, to show the form of 
expression that teachers may secure by skillful handling 
of this oral work. It will be noticed that the short sen- 
tence is very evident, with rather few "ands," etc., as 
connectives. The children will not take to this mode of 
talking at once. Stories 1 and 2 exemplify what may be 
expected for some time. Indeed, the garrulous child, 
allowed to talk with no especial restraint, will sprinkle 
his breathless story with many more of the tabooed 
conjunctions than the illustrations show. The talk of 
such a child must be cleverly *' steered"; for instance: 

Teacher. This is a bright, pleasant day. What do you like 
to do on such days.^ Tell me three things. 

Pupil. This is a bright, pleasant day. I like to roll my hoop. 
My dog likes to run with me. 

1 See pages 177-182 and 164-173. 

[43] 



STAITOARDS IN ENGLISH 

Teacher. The weather is growing warmer every day. The 
birds are coming back. Tell me which one you saw first. Tell 
me what he is doing. 

Pupil. The weather is growing warmer every day. The 
birds are coming back. I saw the robin first. He is getting 
ready to build a nest. 

Through methods like this the garrulous child may be 
restrained. On the other hand the teacher will encounter 
not a few pupils who seem to be able to talk not at all. 
Such pupils do well to give expression to such curtailed 
efforts as numbers 3 and 4. The teacher's task here is to 
inspire confidence. 

Neither the talkative child nor the one approaching 
classroom dumbness will be cured of his especial ills in the 
first grade. But if the teaching is good, the great majority 
of the pupils will, by June of each year, talk about in the 
manner below indicated. Of course, every room will have 
its few "star" pupils. Illustration number 16 shows 
what such a pupil may do. If you have pupils who can 
talk in that way, by all means let them do it. 

It is our business to train ujp to our reasonable standard, 
not down to it. 

1. Yesterday I played in the house because it rained, and in 
the afternoon a little girl and her mother came to see me and we 
had ice cream. (See comment above.) 

2. Yesterday we went out to pick flowers and two 
cows frightened us and we ran home like everything. (See 
above.) 

3. I have a little baby at home. His name is Jimmy. (See 
above.) 

4. Yesterday my four cousins came to see me. We played 
burglar. (See above.) 

[44] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIRST GRADE 

5. Today I swept the yard for my mother. I went over to 
the store and bought two loaves of bread. My mother gave me 
two cents for doing it. I spent them for candy. 

6. When I go home from school I do the errands. I come 
right home from the store. Then I ask my mother if she wants 
me to help her. If she says "No," then I go out to play. 

7. I have a httle "Polly " at home in my room. He screeches 
and wakes me up every night. Then I have to give him a cracker. 
My baby says, "Polly wants a cracker." 

8. My grandmother has a dog. His name is Duke. He is 
brown and white. When I pick up stones he comes near me. 
When I throw them out in the street he runs after them. 

9. Monday was a hohday. Monday was Memorial Day. 
There were flags on the graves of the soldiers. The soldiers 
put flags on the dead soldiers' graves. I saw the soldiers march- 
ing and on a car. There were some women with them. They 
had music and flags. 

10. On Memorial Day in the morning I went to see the soldiers 
at Cambridge Cemetery. In the afternoon I went to ride. 
I saw some pigs and a bossie caK. My brother went with me. 

11. I went to a picnic Saturday. We took the car at the 
church and went to Spot Pond. There were swings and see- 
saws in the grove. We ate our lunch on a piazza. We got 
home at six o'clock. 

12. Last Sunday my mother and my baby Frances and I 
went up to the church and Carohne got christened. The 
minister gave my father a card and put water on my baby's 
head. Next Sunday we are going to a wedding. 

13. Last night we were making a tent. We made it of old 
carpets. We played cowboy. I went behind the wheelbarrow. 
I was shooting caps. A boy came and captured me. 

14. My aunt came down to my house one night. She 
gave me five dollars. My mother put the money in the 

[45] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

bank. Then I went to her house and she let me play with 
my uncle's billy. 

15. My manuna has an Easter lily! It is bigy big as that! 
(Measures from floor.) 

16. Sunday I had on my cowboy suit and I played cowboy. 
I ran around the square and a boy lassooed me and made me hold 
up my hands. I didn't know he was coming. He had a truly 
air gun with real bullets. He shot over to the railroad track; 
then a pohceman came along and said, "Don't you ever bring 
that gun around here again, or I'll take it and keep it; your 
mother will not have it any more." The policeman looked at 
me and said, "Oh, what a nice cowboy suit!" 

17. Boy Blue always wore blue clothes. He carried a little 
horn. One day he fell fast asleep under a haycock. His sheep 
got into the meadow. His cows got into the corn. 

18. The crow said, "I am so thirsty! I have had no water 
for a long time. I shall die pretty soon, I think. Ah! there is 
a pitcher. Now I shall get a drink." 

19. One day a fox was walking along the street. He saw 
a tree with some grapes on it. He wanted the grapes. He 
couldn't reach them. He said that they were sour grapes. 

20. In the picture I see a httle girl. She is on a swing. 
Her dress is white. I know she likes to swing because she is 
laughing. I am going to call her Margaret. I think she is three 
years old. 

21. I hke to play "squirrel." We all stand in a ring. One 
girl is the squirrel and runs around the ring. Another tries 
to catch the squirrel before she gets into her place. It is fun to 
chase the squirrel. 

22. I have a buttercup. The buttercup is yellow. It grows 
in the field. It makes your chin yellow. That means you like 
butter. 

[46] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIRST GRADE 

23. The snow is falling. The flakes are white. They are 
like stars. Yesterday we made snowballs, and a snow fort. 
We made a big, big snow man, too. 

24. I went in a sailboat and sailed to a lighthouse. My 
father and mother went with me and my Uttle baby was crying. 
The boat almost tipped over. My baby almost fell out, but my 
mother caught her and I was laughing all the time. 

25. Today I saw a runaway horse. Two men were trying 
to catch him, and another man in a team got in front of the horse 
and stopped him. Then the two men caught him and took him 
to the barn. 

4. Common Errors of Speech 

Re-read the section on Oral Language (page 12) to get 
a clear understanding of the principles and the method 
that should be followed in the work of eliminating language 
errors. 

What has been said concerning content and form 
applies here. The teacher should not too early begin 
to criticize the child for his oral mistakes. At no time, 
in fact, in Grade I, should the child be made to feel that 
while telling his story he is liable to interruption for an 
"I seen" or a "brung." The important thing at first is 
to secure spontaneity and free expression. The teacher 
will note the incorrect expression, of course. After a little 
while it may safely be made the basis for special drill. 
This drill, once begun, should be kept up insistently. 
The teacher need give no reason for the correct expression. 
The children need know none. Constant repetition of the 
right form is all that is necessary. But this repetition 
must not be lifeless. Use the ''language games" (see 
Appendix, page 184) and invent others like them. 

The errors below are divided into four groups: (1) 
verb errors; (2) pronoun errors; (3) colloquialisms; 

[47] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(4) mispronunciations. The teacher in the primary grades, 
however, is not in her teaching to make any reference to 
these distinctions. They are so grouped throughout 
the course to suggest how the teacher is herself to classify 
the errors which she hears made frequently by her pupils 
and which are not listed here. Every teacher should 
supplement the errors by others that she has observed 
and noted. She should first, however, study the list of 
errors that are printed in the grades below and above her 
own. It is not worth while to attack some errors until 
later in the course. On the other hand, there are some 
errors that must be rooted out in the lower grades, if they 
are to be rooted out at all. 



(1) 


I seen him. 


I done it. 




I come to school. 


I run all the way. 




He he's sick. 


He don't want to. 




He ain't here. 


I knowed it. 


(2) 


Me and him did it. 
My father, he said — 


It was me. 


(3) 


Look 't. 


This after. 




He took it ofif me. 


Gimme that. 




Lemme see it. 


I ain't got no book 



(4) Once they was a man who — Ketch. 

5. Hints and Helps 

(a) Work to overcome the overloud, sing-song, school- 
room tone as well as the tone barely audible to children 
ten feet away. The former sometimes comes as the result 
of the teacher's work to get rid of the latter. Both are 
bad. The child should be led to talk in a natural tone. 
In this connection, teachers would do well to remember 
that little children are born imitators. Flexibility of 
tone and good enunciation on the part of the teacher will 
prove big factors in securing the same from the pupil. 

[48] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIRST GRADE 

(6) In this grade begin the attack on "and" and "so." 
"Short stories" should be the teacher's slogan. Even 
first graders are able to talk with some attention to sen- 
tence formation, if brevity is insisted on. Volubility is 
to be discouraged for two reasons: (1) It leads to careless 
speech, especially to the "and" habit; (2) it cannot help 
"boring" the children compelled to listen. The talkative 
child must be wisely restrained. 

(c) Train your pupils to stand straight when they talk. 

{d) Train your pupils to drop the voice at the end of 
every sentence. 

{e) See Chubb, The Teaching of English^ Chapters 
3 and 4. 

6. Preparation for Written Work 

The seat work called for by the reading systems used in 
our schools is really the foundation for future written 
work, in that it constantly gives practice in the con- 
struction of sentences, in the placing of capital letters at 
the beginning of sentences and proper names, and in the 
placing of the closing period or question mark. 

After the work of the initial stage of matching single 
words has been done, children should be required to make 
the full rhyme from the rhyme-card, or the complete sen- 
tence from the teacher's model on the blackboard. Here 
the opportunity occurs to correct any tendencies to omit 
words, by having the reading of what has actually been 
made compared with what was intended to be made. 
Next, children should be furnished with alphabet letter- 
cards, and required to construct simple sentences, con- 
nected with the reading, from the teacher's blackboard 
model, using capitals and closing marks correctly. During 
the last half of the year, simple, original sentences should 
be required, first using the word cards and next using the 

[49] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

alphabet letters. This gives the child full responsibility 
for right use of capitals and closing marks. 

Illustration of seat work as preparation for written work: 

The squirrel wants to play with me. 

The little squirrel is glad. 

The little squirrel jumps for joy. 

Little squirrel, jump for joy. 

Run, Uttle squirrel, run. 

Play in the tree, httle squirrel. 

The httle squirrel plays in the rain. 

Illustration of child's name and address: 

Mary Brown 

20 Prospect Street 
Cambridge, Mass. 

Before leaving the grade, children should make with 
alphabet letters their own names and addresses, and the 
name of their school. In addition, they should have 
acquired the habit of placing (1) a capital letter at the 
beginning of their card-constructed sentences, in com- 
posing the names of persons, and in their use of the 
pronoun "I"; (2) a period or question mark at the close 
of sentences. 

Read Outline for Second Grade. 



[50] 






Second Grade 



ORAL 



{Read the section on Oral Languagey page 6, Read 
Outline for First Grade,) 
1. Aims 

(a) To see to it that children are not obliged to "say 
something," but rather that they "have something to 
say." This will make for freedom and fluency in talking. 

(&) To lead children to think for a few minutes before 
they attempt anything in an oral way. This, not over- 
done, will be valuable in making for some beginnings of 
order in the arrangement of their ideas. 

(c) To continue the work of developing distinct articu- 
lation and an easy natural talking tone. 

(d) To correct the errors of speech assigned in the 
grade outline. 

(e) To continue the war against "and," "then," and 
"so." Have stories told in short sentences and have few 
of them. Encourage use of the question-sentence and 
the exclamation, for variety and effectiveness. Don't 
overdo this phase of the work. 

S. Suggestive Topics ^ 

(a) Child's experiences at home, at school, on the 
street, holiday and play experiences. 

(6) Observations of the nature world: Birds, animals, 
flowers, etc. 

(c) Lessons on manners: How to act politely at home, 
in school, etc. 

(d) Stories — reproductive and original. 

(e) Picture study. 

If the work of inducing children to talk has been well 
done in Grade I, the teacher should not have very much 

[51] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

difficulty in getting four- or five-sentence stories on any 
one of the thousand and one specific subjects suggested 
by the above. 

The imaginative story should not be overlooked. Chil- 
dren talk eagerly, once their imagination is stirred. The 
story read by the teacher can be made to serve as a means 
to this end. Again let it be said, however, that stories 
used for language purposes should be carefully chosen. 
In this grade they should be short and simple, with a 
definite beginning, a related middle, and a definite close. 
Such a story may be used for reproductive purposes, 
or children may be allowed to invent one similar. Pic- 
tures used should be full of life and action. (See list in 
Appendix.) 

Teachers should bear in mind what has been written 
regarding the type of subject that will yield best results. 
In this grade, as in the first, the teacher will get little, 
probably, by simply asking children to talk on such a 
subject as "My Pets." The linguistic child, indeed, 
will need no stimulus. But the average youngster will 
need to have his thoughts set going by pointed questions. 
The clever teacher will give some thought beforehand to 
this matter. There is no period in school so barren of 
results as the language period, if the teacher is barren of 
ideas. 

3. Illustrative Oral Efforts 

The illustrations cited diflFer not much in their written 
form from those entered under Grade I. It is hoped, 
however, that Grade II pupils will be talking with clearer 
articulation, better tone, and a more certain control 
over the short simple sentence. These evidences of power 
in oral language cannot be set down on paper. As to 
the rest, it will be noted that the specimens are still, in 

[52] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SECOND GRADE 

the main, short. We have in this grade, as in the jBrst, the 
pupil who can talk at some length and do it well. We 
have with us still the father of the man who is to believe, 
later on, in action rather than in words. (See number 16.) 
Unquestionably, too, the pupil of the "and" ailment 
will not be found missing. (See number 17.) But by 
June 1 the "average child" will be found producing work 
of about the length and kind instanced. 

These illustrations, by the way, are not put here as 
subject matter to be drilled upon and repeated from 
memory. They merely show what has been done by pupils 
in Cambridge during the past year. What has been done 
can be done. We mean to attempt no improbabiUties. 

1. I saw a robin's nest last summer. There were four eggs 
in the nest. I often climbed up to see the eggs. 

2. I know where there are some pigs. They are under the 
barn. I see the man feeding them every morning. 

3. I planted some sunflowers. Every morning the bees came 
to the flowers. Once when I was in the yard, a bee stung me. 

4. Last night when I was going home from school, I heard 
a noise in the tree. What do you think it was? It was a wood- 
pecker picking at the tree. 

5. I saw a bee on one of the rose bushes. It was trying to 
get honey. Bees like honey. I like honey, too. The bee was 
saying, "Buzz, buzz, buzz!" 

6. I went to the Wellington School show Tuesday night. 
First a boy came out and said he was War. When all the boys 
went to war, then Peace came out and they stopped fighting. 
Peace drove War away. 

7. Every morning before school, I go on errands. When 
I come home from school in the afternoon, I put on old clothes, 
and help my mother. Then my mother says, "That's a good 
boy, run along and play." 

[53] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

8. My little baby has black eyes and light brown hair. She 
crawls all around the floor. She can't talk, but she has five teeth. 
The other day a lady said, *'0h, what a pretty baby!" 

9. One day we were telling stories when the fire bell rang. 
We left the room quickly. We filed down the stairs without 
talking or fooling. The teachers said it took us two minutes. 

10. We had a visitor Friday afternoon. When she came in, 
Phihp got a chair for her. Then we sat up tall. When the 
teacher was talking to the visitor we took our books and studied. 
When we went in front of her we said, ** Please excuse me." 

11. One day we had a party in our house. There were many 
little boys and girls at the party. We had a lot of things to eat. 
Mary spilled ice cream on her new dress. 

12. Tomorrow I am going to shoot off firecrackers. I bought 
them in the store for one cent. I am going to shoot off the fire- 
crackers near my house. I am going to set off some sparklers. 
They will look like stars. 

13. I have a long cannon with red wheels. It is white where 
the bullets go, and blue where you pull the trigger. I play 
soldier with my cannon. When I pull the trigger, the stopper 
flies out, and pop goes the cannon! 

14. Whom do you like best in Mother Goose Village? I like 
Humpty Dumpty the best because he foimd the Golden Egg. 
No other boy could find it. It was in the hollow tree. After 
Humpty Dumpty found it, he ran and stubbed his toe and broke 
the Golden Egg. He was going to cry, but he didn't. The 
children said, '* Hurrah for Humpty Dumpty, the boy who never 
cries!" 

15. James and I play "Step on dirt, you're poisoned." 
There are piles of bricks near our house. If we fall off the bricks, 
we're poisoned. Then we have to go to a brick and say, "Doctor, 
doctor, make us better." When we're better we go back to 
play, but we cannot go on any dirt. 

[54] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SECOND GRADE 

16. I had a cat. It was black. It is dead now. 

17. One day we were at the water and we thought a seal 
was a dog and we whistled to it and it sank down out of sight, 
and then it came up again and again, but at last it sank down out 
of sight way off, and we didn't see it again, 

^. Common Errors of Speech 

The teacher should read over the section on "Common 
Errors" in the foreword of the course (page 12). She 
should also re-read the notes printed under this heading 
in the first grade. Keep in mind the groupings of the 
errors, as there explained, but do not discuss the "gram- 
mar" of them with the pupils. Study the list of errors 
in all the grades, but confine your work mostly to those 
of your grade and the grade below. They will keep you 
busy. Use some language game every day. You will 
find plenty of them in the section on "The Language 
Game" in the Appendix (page 184). If they do not suit 
you, make up some of your own. 

Language games may be played at any time during the 
day — to fill up a few odd minutes here and there, or as 
a change after a period of concentrated work in number 
or phonics. 

(1) We sung it. I done it. 

We et it. He knowed me. 

I writed my name. I seen it. 

My pencil is broke. It's tore. 

You was afraid. I brung it home. 

I can't find it no place. We drawed a robin. 

I ain't got no book. He hadn't ought to go. 

Ketch. He don't need a book. 



(2) He did it hisself. Them kind ain't good. 

Me and him went. 



[55] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(3) I got it off a him. He is the one what did it. 
Are they any school .^^ He didn't give me none. 
She told on him. I was to home. 

Look 't here. 

(4) I wash me own self. Gimme that pencil. 
He would of gone. I dunno. 

I hat to go. I'm thinkin'. 

They was six books. 

5. Hints and Helps 

(a) Don't become discouraged if improvement seems 
almost nil along the different lines of oral work. You 
are too close to the v^ork to detect improvement from 
week to week. 

(fe) Don't kill spontaneity by too many criticisms. 
Your pupils will not talk correctly at the end of the year. 
An attempt to make them do so would result in making 
them incapable of talking at all. 

(c) Pick out good stories for reproductive purposes, 
and tell them well, 

(d) Give all your pupils a chance to talk. Don't 
develop a few ''star performers." 

(e) Insist on careful pronunciation of final syllables 
ending in g, t, d. 

(/) "Stand straight! Open your mouths! But don't 
shout!" 

(g) Teach children to drop the voice at the end of the 
sentence. 

(h) Don't overdo the insistence on the "sentence 
sense." And never talk about a sentence technically. 



[56] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SECOND GRADE 

2. WRITTEN 

Preparation for Writing 

During the first haK of the year the alphabet-card seat 
work, started in Grade I, should be reviewed and extended. 

In review, children should first make sentences from the 
teacher's model on the blackboard. These sentences may 
be based on the reading lessons, or on the topics discussed 
in the oral composition period. The pupil's work should 
always be inspected by the teacher. Her method of cor- 
recting faults should be that of teaching the children 
to correct their own and to establish the tendency to look 
their work over for correction before the teacher inspects 
it. They should be trained to look it over first to see if 
all the words are there; they look again, to see if the 
capital and the closing marks are correctly used. 

In extending the work, children should be required to 
make sentences independent of a model. These may be 
reproduction from memory of those occurring in a reading 
lesson, in a preceding oral composition lesson, or they may 
be original. Such work throws upon the class full responsi- 
bility for right spelling and correct use of capitals and 
closing marks. But whatever the source of these sen- 
tences, the teacher must guard against incorrect spelling, 
and if she finds it necessary should assign the topic herself, 
and prevent misspelling by placing on the blackboard 
for children's use while working, words with regard to the 
spelling of which the class may not be certain. 

The work of inspection should be continued, and the 
habit of self-correction strengthened by requiring chil- 
dren to look over the work before the teacher does, once 
for omission of words; again, for correct use of punctuation 
and capitals; and a third time for correct spelling. 

[57] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

1. Aims 

(a) To teach the pupils to transfer to paper, with cor- 
rectness, a few simple related sentences such as may be 
evolved in the oral language period. (Copying.) 

(6) To teach a very few technicalities of written 
work. 

(c) To develop the power to write correctly several 
related sentences on a given topic, without the teacher's 
cooperation, but always under her supervision. 

(d) To develop the power of thinking out the sentence 
before writing it. 

2, Type of Work 

Sentences: 

(a) Copied from the blackboard. 

(6) The same written from dictation, each child 
comparing her finished product with the teacher's correct 
copy on the board. 

(c) Several related sentences written on the blackboard 
by children. 

(d) An occasional short reproduction. 
(Note. Base the above on the oral work.) 

5. Suggested Topics for Sentence Writing 

(See Outline for Oral Composition, section 2, page 51.) 

4, Technicalities 

(a) Capitals. Beginning sentences, names of persons, 
of places, days of the week, months of the year, the name 
of the school, the letters I and O. 

(6) Period, At the close of the telling sentence. 
After the abbreviations Mr., Mrs., St. 

(c) Question mark at the close of a question 
sentence. 

[58] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SECOND GRADE 

(d) Punctuation marks used in the writing of the pupil's 
name and address, as learned through the alphabet card 
work during the first year and the first haK of the second 
year. 

5. Words for Special Spelling Drill 

(Note. Re-read the section on "The Correct SpeUing 
of Common Words," page 25.) 



again 


goes 


once 


usmg 


any 


having 


only 


very 


asked 


heard 


running 


want 


buy 


higher 


school 


went 


can't 


knew 


shining 


when 


coTning 


know 


some 


where 


cried 


leaving 


sure 


which 


does 


loving 


taking 


whole 


don't 


making 


their 


whose 


dropped 


many 


there 


won't 


drowned 


much 


they 


write 


fairy 


near 


too 




first 


off 


tried 





6. Standards 

The following groups of sentences are printed here to 
indicate about the sort of "written composition" the ordi- 
nary child should be able to write at the end of this second 
year. Some second-grade pupils will be capable of writing 
longer and better ones. A few will not be able to write 
as well as the printed standards call for. The majority 
of the pupils, however, if given a subject they feel like 
writing about, should be able to produce three or four 
sentences somewhat like the ones printed below. They 
should be able to do this with a fair degree of facility, 
and with no assistance from the teacher except what is 
derived from the oral preparation. The sentences should 

[59] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

show some sense of sequence and the desire to be inter- 
esting. They should be invariably correct in the matter 
of capitals and ending marks. The pupil's power should 
always be measured by the first writing, not by a corrected 
and rewritten copy. 

1. I was born at Cambridge, Mass., December 11, 1906. 
I am eight years old. 

I live at 81 Broadway. 
I go to the Parker School. 
I am in the second grade. 

2. My sister's name is Edith. 
She works in a candy shop. 

She says she likes to work making candy. 
Sometimes she brings candy home to my mother. 

3. Yesterday we had our pictures taken in the school yard. 
The man told us not to look cross. 

He is going to show us the picture today. 
If we like it we are all going to buy one. 
They cost twenty-five cents. 

4. My aimt has a dog. 
His name is Teddy. 

He follows my imcle to the car every morning. 

5. I have a great many dolKes. 
I like my big doll the best. 
Her name is Gertrude. 

I named her after myself. 

7. Hints and Helps 

(a) Keep the amount of written work small. There 
are but very few technicalities to be taught. Remember 
that as yet pupils have had very little applied penmanship 
and not very much written spelling. 

(6) The copying exercises should not be given as ''busy 
work." It is important that children be trained in right 

[60] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SECOND GRADE 

habits of copying from the beginning. (Read what has 
heretofore been said about this under "Written Lan- 
guage," page 34.) 

(c) Keep the sentences for copying and dictation short 
and simple. Use famihar words. 

Read Outline for Third Grade. 



[61] 



Third Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read the section on Oral Language, page 5. Read 
Outline Jot Second Grade.) 

1, Aims 

(a) To lead children to tell of their experiences as 
freely in school as they do at home or on the playground. 

(6) To restrain the garrulous; to stimulate the timid. 

(c) To acquaint children, mainly through imitation 
of the model, with the use of the short exclamatory and 
the interrogatory sentence as a medium for Uvely thought 
expression. 

{d) To continue the work of developing distinct articu- 
lation and an easy natural talking tone. 

{e) To play the language games without any let-up. 

(/) Still to continue the war against "and," "then," 
and "so." 

S. Suggestive Topics 

(a) Personal experiences of children: At home, at 
school, on the street; hohday and play experiences. 

(6) The imagination: Finishing an uncompleted story; 
"making up" a story from a picture. 

(c) Nature life: The trees in the school yard and in 
the neighborhood; birds of the locality; habits, home, 
and use of insects; the caterpillar and its cocoon; the 
spider and its web, etc. These from actual observation. 

(d) Manners and general behavior: Promptness and 
obedience in school and at home; courtesy to visitors; 
helping the fireman, the policeman; keeping the streets 
clean; preventing accidents on the street, etc. DonH 
preach. 

[62] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: THIRD GRADE 

(e) Miscellaneous: Saturday good times; Sunday 
walks at different seasons; holidays; description of toys, 
of pets; games played at home, at school, indoors, out 
of doors; the policeman, fireman, postman, and their 
work; the milkman, grocer, butcher, shoemaker, carpenter, 
and their work; directions for making something, for 
playing a game; short stories for reproduction; pictures 
(choose those that suggest a story rather than those that 
suggest description of objects seen).^ 

3. Suggestions as to Use of the Material in Section 2 

Note use of exclamations and questions. 

(a) To develop from a single topic several different 
groups of interesting sentences arranged in good order. 
Illustration: 

"The Fun that Spring Days Bring." 

{Sentences contributed by the children.) 

Flowers are gathered in the meadow by girls. 

Girls play hop-scotch. 

Boys fly kites and play marbles. 

Sometimes boys go fishing. 

Every boy plays ball. 

(Showing variety and good order in the arrangement of 
the above made by individual pupils.) 

1. What fun we have in spring ! 
Girls jump rope. 

Boys fly kites and play marbles. 

2. How glad I am it is spring ! 
Little girls play hop-scotch. 
Every boy plays ball. 

* For other suggestions see the Course of Study in English issued 
by the Department of Education of the State of New Jersey. 

[63] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

3. Oh! how nice spring is! 

Little girls gather flowers in the meadows. 
Boys go fishing. 

(6) To improve the quaUty of the sentence through 
imitation of a model given by the teacher. 

1. Teacher's Model: 

The First Snowstorm 

What a stormy day ! The snow is pihng up in drifts. It comes 
in at the windows. I have to play in the house. 

Child's Imitation (modeled on the above) : 

A Winter Day 

What a cold day it is ! Jack Frost has come at last. He sends 
the leaves flying. I have to play in the house, or he will bite 
my nose. 

2. Teacher's Model: 

The Humming Bird 

Can you see that Httle bird? He is a little humming bird and 
he comes to swing in my tree every morning. When the wind 
blows and the branches sway, he is very happy. 

Children's Imitations: 

The Robin 

There is a Kttle robin in the grass. How fat he is ! His breast 
is bright red. He sings very sweetly every morning. 

The Sparrow 

There is a sparrow on the topmost bough. He is building his 
nest. There he goes now to get some more straw. 

[64] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: THIRD GRADE 

The Canary 

At home we have a Uttle canary. He has yellow and white 
feathers. His feathers are very smooth. He sings very sweetly. 

^. Illustrative Oral Efforts 

Yesterday afternoon I went to the circus with my mother. 
There were elephants there. I saw camels and horses. There 
was a man on the elephant dressed like a clown. 

When I went down East I ate my supper on the ship. After 
supper I went to bed. My mother and sister went up on deck. 
I wanted to go, too, but they wouldn't let me. When we got 
there, my grandmother took me in her arms and kissed me. 

I am going to stay all summer at Prince Edward's Island. 
My grandmother lives there. I have lots of fun. They let me 
milk the cow, feed the hens, and hunt for eggs. I play on the 
hay, too. 

The Eskimos live in Greenland. The people dress in furs. 
They do not feel the cold. Do you know what they do? They 
catch fish and kill seals. They make knives out of the bones of 
animals. 

A fireman rides on an engine. He is very strong and brave. 
He wears a rubber coat, a rubber hat, and rubber boots. He 
works quickly. A great many firemen get hurt. 

When I came to school this morning I saw men working on 
the street. Some of them were digging and some were laying 
a pipe. One had a wheelbarrow. They were all working. 

Last vacation I went fishing. I caught several fishes. My 
mother cooked them. Other days I went berrying. My father 
had to climb a tree to get away from a snake. 

Yesterday we made penwipers. We cut three circles out of 
cloth. The first one was small. The second was a httle larger. 
The third was the largest of all. We fastened the three circles 
together with a brad. 

IQ5-] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

5. Errors of Speech 

{Re-read the section on '^Common Errors of Speech,^ ^ 

page 12,) 

The errors Ksted below are those that one ordinarily 
hears in a primary grade. It goes without saying, how- 
ever, that no one particular room will need drill on all 
these errors. The list is intended to be suggestive, not 
prescriptive. It is time wasted to drill on errors simply 
because they appear in this list. On the other hand, it 
is time wasted not to drill on errors simply because they 
do not appear in this list. The needs of the class must 
dictate the points of attack. 

Don't hesitate to drill on errors of Grade II, nor yet on 
errors of Grade IV. Remember the groupings: (1) verb 
errors, (2) pronoun errors, (3) colloquialisms, (4) mis- 
pronunciations. Remember, too, all that has been said 
regarding the futility of attempting to eUminate oral 
errors through work in formal grammar. Right use of 
language comes from hahit. To form right habits of speech 
use the language games every day. Vary the repetition 
of them to ward olBF monotony. Invent games of your 
own. 

(1) I done it. I seen it. 

I et the apple. That ain't mine. 

I seen him take it. He never give me a pen. 

Leave him do it. My pencil is broke. 

I ain't got no book. I trun the core away. 

He don't know. She brung it to school. 

Has John went yet? You was down there. 

(2) Here is yourn. Him and me done it. 
Me aunt is sick. Them are mine. 

(3) I'm after doing my work. Can I get a pen off him? 
Do like I did. I was to school. 

[66] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: THIRD GRADE 

These kind are bad. I am all better. 

This is the boat what I went on. I can't find it nowhere. 

(4) My mother is worser. , Be you a-goin'? 

The boy was almost drownded. Gimme a cent. 
My teacher's name is Mrs. I was late, 'cause I went 

They was nobody to be seen, to the store. 

I hurted me. 

6, Hints and Helps 

(a) A natural speaking tone means one that can be 
heard plainly by every one in the classroom. Remember 
that the boy in the last seat seldom hears what the girl 
in the front seat says to the teacher. Be careful of the 
other extreme. Pupils should not be allowed either to 
read or to recite in a tone that may be heard at the other 
end of the building. 

(6) The reading lesson is a splendid medium to help 
develop the proper tone. 

(c) Children at this age are not naturally self-conscious. 
They will take readily to the exclamatory sentence as a 
means of expression. Let them note its use in the readers. 

(d) The following rhyme was invented by an Illinois 
teacher to cure the use of ''ain't got no J' 

The Lazy Little Boy 

He comes to school at nine o'clock, just missing being late, 

He hasn't any pencil and he hasn't any slate. 

He hasn't any ruler and he hasn't any book. 

While at the other boys and girls he likes to sit and look — 

O careless, lazy little child ! 'Twould yield you greater joy 

If you would try each day to be a very careful boy! 

(e) Children should not be allowed to babble on end- 
lessly. Lead them to think for a few minutes before talk- 
ing, and then talk to the point, with some idea of order. 

C67] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Be satisfied with very gradual improvement. There are 
other grades ahead. 

(/) Teach pupils to drop the voice at the end of the 
sentence. 

2. WRITTEN 

i. Aims 

(a) To develop in children the power to write, either 
from dictation or as an original effort, several short sen- 
tences on a given topic, as instanced below. 

(6) To make certain that the children show on paper 
that they have learned through the oral work when one 
sentence ends and another begins. 

(c) To eliminate the misspelling of words commonly 
used. 

S. Types of Work 

(a) Copying from the board sentences based on oral 
conversation. These sentences should first be discussed 
and arranged in the best order. 

(6) The above sentences written from dictation. 
Each child corrects his own paper. 

(c) Original independent work based on (a) as model. 
(See Helps and Hints, page 71.) 

(d) Dictation to test points of technical accuracy. 
Take note only of the technical points that children 
are supposed to knoT7. 

(e) The occasional very short reproduction of a story 
told in the oral period. At first such a reproduction should 
be copied from the board, after being told by the children. 
Later the copying step may be omitted. 

3. Suggested Topics 

See Outline for Oral Work, Section 2, page 62. 
[68] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: THIRD GRADE 

4. Technicalities 

Capital letter beginning sentences, names of persons, of 
places, days of the week, months of the year, the name of 
our state, our city, of child's own school. 

Period at the end of a telling sentence; after the abbre- 
viations of names of days, of months, of the name of our 
state; after Mr., Mrs., St. 

Question mark after questions. 

Exclamation mark after exclamations. 

5. Words for Special Spelling Drill 



asked 


heard 


there 


when 


buy 


know 


they 


which 


coming 


making 


too 


whose 


dropped 


shining 


tried 


write 


fairy 


their 


went 


wrote 


afraid 


early 


lose 


speak 


all right 


easy 


loose 


though 


almost 


enough 


money 


together 


already 


father 


month 


truly 


always 


February 


none 


Tuesday 


beginning 


forty 


often 


until 


busy 


friend 


people 


Wednesday 


children 


great 


please 


whose 


clothes 


guess 


quite 


women 


color 


its 


right 


would 


doctor 


laughed 


Satiurday 


writing 



6. Written Standards 

The paragraphs below have been selected as typical 
of the kind and quality of written work that may be 
considered satisfactory, coming from the third-grade 
pupil. The short, clean-cut sentence is in evidence. 
Common words are correctly spelled. The very few 
technicalities demanded up to date are well handled. 

[69] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Note that the quotation sentence and the time-honored 
comma in a series do not appear. If children write Httle 
themes that happen to call for such technicalities, the 
teacher may suggest the correct form. But as a general 
proposition we shall be content to ignore such technicahties 
for the time being. 

It may well happen that a score of pupils in every class- 
room may be able to write longer and better sentences, 
longer and better compositions, than those here set down. 
If so, all the better. Give such pupils free rein. But be 
sure in addition that the few basic technicalities exemplified 
in these standard themes are mastered by the class as 
a whole. And remember that the true measure of the 
pupil's power is his first copy, not the copy that has been 
corrected by the teacher. 

1. This is mother's birthday. After breakfast we gave her 
our presents. My present was a pretty bookmark. I made 
it in school. 

2. My dog is a little brown one. He can sit up and beg for 
his dinner. My uncle gave him to me. He is very cunning. 

3. Last Saturday I went to a lawn party. We had ice cream 
and cake. We played games, too. We tried to eat a cracker 
tied to a tree. Donald was asked to do it. He could not do it. 
I was the second to try. I did it. 

4. In the writing lesson we use our arm. We slide on our 
fingers. We roll on our muscle. We have a bridge under our 
wrist. 

5. I like the music best of all our school lessons. I like to 
sing the song about the rabbit. I like the Christmas songs, 
too. Sometimes I sing alone. 

6. I am a tulip. I grow in a garden. I am very pretty. 
I am white. A little girl came in and smelled me. A naughty 
boy smelled me and picked me. 

[70] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: THIRD GRADE 

7. Helps and Hints 

(a) The following illustration of the method of develop- 
ing original written work from oral work is taken from the 
New Jersey Course of Study in English: 

Step 1. Oral conversation lesson suggested by roses in 
classroom (oral paragraph). 

Step 2. Paragraph studied and copied. 

Step 3. Previous work recalled, paragraph dictated. 

Step 4. Original written paragraphs. 

(Copy — Step 2): 

I have a big bunch of roses. They are bright red and they 
smell sweet. I picked them in my pretty garden. 

(Dictation — Step 3) : 

Here is a bunch of roses. They are yellow and have a sweet 
perfume. I picked them for you in my garden. 

(Original — Step 4) : 

Across the way there is an arbor of pink roses. The bees 
and butterflies often visit the roses, for they love them 
very much. 

(6) Don't let pupils form bad habits in dictation work 
at this early stage. Give a sentence but once. Train 
pupils to listen attentively. 

(c) Don't forget that children love to write on the 
blackboard. It is a very good device to have different 
groups of children write on the boards on different days 
as "bef ore-school" work. Each child may be asked to 
write two related sentences. Later on each child should 
be required to read his sentences, giving reason for each 
capital and punctuation mark. Keep this up for a year's 

[71] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

time, and note the growth in power of handling the few 
technicaUties involved. 

(d) When pupils write, insist that they sit in good 
writing position, use the movement, etc. (One school 
exercise should help another.) 

Read Outline for Fourth Grade. 



[72] 



Fourth Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read the section on Oral Language, page 5. Read Outline 

for Third Grade.) 
1. Aims 

(a) To strengthen the "sentence sense." EHminate 
"and" and "so." 

(6) To secure good bearing before the class. There 
is no excuse for self -consciousness if the right class atmos- 
phere is established. 

(c) To continue to promote orderly talking. 

(d) To secure good articulation and good tone. 

(e) To correct, with moderation, common spoken 
errors. 

It is more important than anything else that the teacher 
should aim to make the period in oral English one of real 
interest to the pupil. As the pupil advances in the grades, 
the importance of this particular aim on the part of the 
teacher grows. The boy in the middle and upper grades 
regards the oral composition period as a time to be dreaded, 
unless the teacher stimulates and suggests. The teacher's 
aim is not to have the pupil "say something"; it is to 
have a care rather that the pupil "has something to say." 
This makes for interest and a real desire to talk. 

S. Examples of Oral Composition 

The specimen efforts entered below are intended to 
indicate the type of oral work that the teacher should 
try to get from her pupils in the fourth year. In so far 
as they appear on the printed page, they do not differ 
materially from the specimens listed in the third-grade 

[73] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

outline. In certain particulars, however, that can't by 
their very nature be illustrated on the printed page, it is 
to be hoped that the pupils in this grade will show con- 
siderable improvement over the work of the previous 
year. They should be more "sentence sure." As a re- 
sult of the articulation drills, they should be talking more 
distinctly and with better tone. They should have the 
power to think out a half-dozen connected sentences on a 
topic, and give expression to them without painful em- 
barrassment or undue hesitation. These things, as stated, 
can't be illustrated on paper, but they are of great im- 
portance, indeed. The section on "Oral English" has 
said that "mumbling, indistinct utterance and a poverty 
of ideas all too frequently characterize the speech of the 
average grammar-school graduate." This will always be 
so unless every teacher appreciates the value of good 
habits in speech as a practical asset and strives to inculcate 
these habits in her classroom. If the fourth-grade teacher 
does this, her pupils will inevitably be talking better by the 
end of the year. The teacher herseK may not be able to 
detect improvement because of her closeness to the work, 
and because increased power along this line can't be 
registered in percentages, as increased power in arithme- 
tic, for instance, can be. Nevertheless, the teacher who 
works persistently to secure good habits of speech may 
feel sure that the improvement is there; and she can 
draw much satisfaction from the thought that she has 
done her share in a task that has hitherto been largely 
neglected. 

We have said many times that the results attained in 
the English period depend largely on the kind of subject 
chosen. We shall still insist that the best material for 
language work is that which represents the child's own 
experience. From his life at home, on the streets, in 

[74] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

school; from his sports, amusements, duties, tasks; from 
the things he has seen and heard and felt and done; from 
the things he has read and the things he imagines; from 
all these sources may be drawn an infinite variety of 
interesting material. Subjects of this nature are listed 
in the outline for "Written English" for this grade. 
These subjects, and others like them, may be used in the 
oral period also. The study of pictures should be con- 
tinued. The reproduced story — if the story be of the 
right kind (see Grade II, page 52) — has likewise its 
place. The teacher need be at no loss for subjects if she 
will give this matter some thought. 

It may be said that the illustrations cited are not to 
be taken as absolute standards. Some pupils may easily 
talk with more loquacity and fluency than here indicated. 
If so, so much the better. Whatever some can do, however, 
the teacher's task is to see to it that as many as possible 
of the others less gifted are induced to talk in the short, 
clean-cut sentences illustrated. This accomplished, the 
upper grades will take care of the rest. 

A Fire I Saw 

One day I was talking to a boy. He noticed a fire in my 
ash shed. He told me. I was frightened very much. I told 
my sister, for it was dreadful. I ran up to the fire box and rang 
in the alarm. A lot of boys came in the yard. They were shout- 
ing, and a lot of them climbed the piazza railing to see the fire. 
It was all in fiames. The firemen were shouting for the hose. 
They put back all the children. When they had the fire out, 
they chopped down the roof. The landlord gave me a dime for 
ringing in. 

Why I Was Absent 

I was absent one morning because I had to go to the hospital 
with my brother. My brother had broken his fingers. When 

[75] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

I came back it was half-past ten. The children were taking 
a walk in the street. I didn't come in to school that morning. 
I was very sorry because I missed my lessons. We had a new 
lesson in geography that morning. 

Fun at Revere Beach 

One August morning my brother and I went to Revere Leach 
on a special car. We were playing ball because we didn't know 
how to swim. When I was at the bat I hit a boy on the head 
with the ball. Instead of crying, he started to laugh. After 
a while a train came by. The men threw crackers out to us. 
We each had about two boxes full of them. At four o'clock we 
came home. 

My Report Card 

When I got home the first month with my card, my mother 
sighed. She said if I had "Whispers" again on my card, she 
would come up to school. I did not want her to, so I never 
whispered very much after that. Now it says "Good" every 
month. Last month it said "Good work in reading and lan- 
guage." 

The Fourth of July 

On the Fourth of July I'd like to have a repeater gun. I'd 
like to have some rolls of caps, too. Then I'd put them in my 
gun. If my brother didn't have any, I'd give him some. I 
wish I could have a lot of sky rockets. I'm going up to the 
Common to see the races and fireworks. 

My Longest Journey 

When I was coming from the old country, two boys gave us 
a ride to the big boat. The boys had jerseys on. On the boat 
there were high beds and low beds. My mother was awful 
sick. A man gave us some spaghetti and meat. The meat was 
no good, so we threw it in the ocean. It took us ten days to 
sail across the ocean. 

[76] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 



3. Common Errors of Speech 

Read section 5 for the Third Grade, page 66. 

Remember that these errors should be drilled on fre- 
quently in special periods. A game need not take over 
five minutes, and thus it can well be played daily. Don't 
try to correct every error a pupil makes every time he 
makes it. It can't be done. Typical errors should be 
chosen from week to week and drilled on until there is 
some assurance that the ear of the child has become accus- 
tomed to the right sound. 

Be sure that all the pupils get a chance at the language 
game. 



(1) I done it. 

He come back. 

We drawed a bird's nest. 

I brung it to him. 

Ther^ was about seven boys 

there. 
He trun it to me. 
We have saw them. 
Look what I done to that 

paper. 

(2) Them are easy. 

He can't run as fast as me. 



I seen it. 
Where was you ? 
My book is tore. 
It ain't so. 
My pencil is broke. 

You hadn't ought to do it. 
That don't make me laugh. 



(3) Can I get a book off Mary? 
My sister learned me to sew. 
Where shall I bring them to.^^ 
The baby got sick on us. 
Sing it like John does. 

Can I have a drink? 

(4) Ketch the ball! 
Lemme have that. 
I c'n git it. 



They are wrong theirselves. 
Me and Frank will go. 

John stayed to home. 
She sits in back of me. 
Leave me do it. 
Where are you at? 
She never does nothin'. 
He he's always whispering 
to me. 

They was an old man there. 
Are they any school? 



[77] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Jf, Hints and Helps 

(a) Pupils should be told constantly: 

(1) To open their mouths when they speak. 

(2) To speak in a clear, low voice — low in the 

sense of being in the natural register of 
the child's voice, not in the high-pitched 
" schoolroom " tone, yet loud enough to be 
heard distinctly in all parts of the room. 

(3) To sound final g's, t's, and d's. 

(6) Don't forget the enunciation drills. (See section on 
"Oral English," page 5.) 

(c) Teach pupils to drop the voice at the end of the 
sentence. 

(d) Invent a few language games of your own. Be 
sure to get the game element into them. 

{e) Don't allow the garrulous child to talk on endlessly. 
The time is all too short, and the timid need all the practice 
that they can get. 

(/) Don't interrupt the continuity of the child's 
thought because he makes a language error. Note the 
more important mistakes as they occur, and drill on them 
in special periods. 

(gr) Remember that if fourth-grade pupils make second- 
grade mistakes, those are the mistakes to deal with. 



%, WRITTEN 

i. Aims 

(a) To strengthen the sentence sense in the short 
paragraph. 

(6) To give considerable practice in the writing of the 
short, familiar letter. 

(c) To drill on the words commonly misspelled and on 
common grammatical errors. (See lists.) 

[78] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

(d) To secure complete mastery of the few technicalities 
noted. 

(e) To insist on neatness and good arrangement in all 
written work. 

S. Types of Work 
(a) Sentences 

The sentence sense means, in effect, that children should 
know that the sentence should begin with a capital and 
end with a period. If children know this, and are given 
considerable practice on paper and on the board, the 
"comma sentence," so prevalent in the lower grades, 
will disappear. Pupils should be persistently drilled in 
the idea that a sentence is a group of words that makes 
sense. This is, of course, not a technical definition. 
But it is one that pupils can grasp, and once grasped, 
it will have the effect of eliminating the "clause sentence" 
and the "phrase sentence," both of which also figure in 
the written work of these grades^ In the oral work up 
to this time teachers have been insisting on the elimination 
of "and" in particular as a connective. The children by 
this time should realize that, to be on the safe side, they 
had better not indulge in its use. This does not mean, 
to be sure, that it is not perfectly good English to write 
compound sentences interspersed with connectives. The 
point is rather that in these lower grades it is much better 
to overdo the matter of drill on the short, "choppy" 
sentence, for the purpose of making dead sure that this 
all-important idea of the sentence sense is thoroughly 
taught. The " smoothing-o ver " process can safely be 
left to the upper grades. 

The following are a few ways of bringing out the sen- 
tence idea: 

[79] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(1) Let the teacher give orally groups of words, some 
which make sentences, and others not. After each one 
let pupils tell whether it is a sentence or not, giving the 
reason. 

(2) Children may be required to make sentences out 
of the non-sentence groups. 

(3) The same exercises may be written on the board. 

(4) Let some children give groups of words, and let 
other children tell whether the given group is a sentence 
or not, always giving reasons. 

(5) The children may be required to complete the non- 
sentence group. 

(6) The Paragraph 

Children in this grade will be expected to set down their 
thoughts in the form of the paragraph. This means only 
that the sentences will appear on the paper, blocked in 
paragraph form, with proper indention. Since these 
paragraphs, as a rule, are not to be more than a half- 
dozen lines in length, the occasion will not arise to go into 
any technical discussion of topic sentences and the like, 
though good beginning sentences and good closing sen- 
tences may be worked for. The children have become 
familiar in the third grade with the interrogative and the 
exclamatory sentence. They should be encouraged to 
use these and to note their use in reading. An occasional 
question or exclamation breaks up the monotony of the 
theme, and makes it just a bit less formal, more live. 

For subjects, the teacher is referred to the list printed 
in the outline for this grade. These subjects have been 
chosen because in a greater or less degree they are all of 
the kind indicated as desirable in the section on "'Written 
English." The teacher is at liberty to choose these or 
substitute others for them. In either case, she should 

[80] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

remember that the subject is half the battle. A poorly- 
chosen subject means a poor set of themes. 

In this connection see also "Picture List" (Appendix, 
page 177) and selections to be read to children (Litera- 
ture Outline, page 164). 

(c) The Letter 

The familiar letter is introduced in this grade, and a 
model for the form of the same is set down in the Appendix. 
Though there are forms other than the one indicated that 
are in good use, the teacher is asked to teach this one only, 
and to teach it thoroughly. The form of a letter may not 
be nearly correct. It must be one hundred per cent 
correct. In order to secure this, teachers will please, 
for some considerable time, dwell on the form and teach 
it through the medium of the copying lesson, calling 
attention to every item of punctuation and capitalization, 
and causing the pupils to compare their efforts, item for 
item, with the model on the board or on the hektographed 
sheet. Afterwards, knowledge of the form should be 
tested by several dictations. The way is then prepared 
for the writing of original letters. 

"The quality most difficult to secure in pupils' letters 
is spontaneity, and this is but natural. For this very 
quality is one so elusive, so thoroughly identified with 
the interests of the children, so completely a form of pure 
self-expression, that it may be doubted whether a spon- 
taneous effect can ever, through the teacher's efforts, 
be secured. If it is not present it cannot be forced. 
Originality cannot be taught. If, however, we can dis- 
cover what are the restraints which make letters written 
by children in the grades of the elementary school so 
artificial and awkward, it might be possible, could we but 
remove the hampering factors, to lend to this work, 

[81] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

within the Hmits of the children's powers, the freedom, 
the grace, and the charm that characterize the corre- 
spondence of a Lowell, a Dodgson, or a Stevenson." 

The above quotation is from Method and Methods in 
the Teaching of English} The entire treatment of the 
subject of letter writing in this book is so admirable that 
it seems idle to attempt to duplicate it here. Teachers 
in all grades should read the chapter on "Letter Writing" 
and work along the lines therein laid down. The illustra- 
tions cited as to the kind of letter that we should strive 
to get are especially worth studying, as they exemplify 
in a delightful way that childlike naturalness that should 
characterize the letter in the elementary school. A few 
of these illustrations are reproduced here: 

Dear Harry: 

You ought to see how the beans I planted have grown. Did 
you ever plant any? The onion that you saw is all dried up. 
Can you tell me why? 

Dear Mother: 

We have had a fine time this week. I went driving with 
Uncle John and the horses went so fast I was frightened. But 
Uncle only laughed at me. When will you come here? I pray 
for you every night. 

Dear Rose: 

Mamma is going to let me have a real doll party next Saturday. 
Will you come early and bring your best doll with you? I 
want you to come early because I need you to help me to fiix 
some things for the other girls. 

Dear Mother: 

We arrived here at ten o'clock this morning. It was very 
dusty on the trains. I looked as black as coal when I reached 

1 Method and Methods in the Teaching of English, by E. Goldwasser: 
D. C. Heath & Company. 

[82] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

the house. In the afternoon I went with Fred to the field and 

watched the men digging potatoes. The earth has a very 

pleasant smell. We saw a great number of worms. Love to all. 

Your affectionate son. 

Dear Mrs. Brown: 

I had a very happy birthday. It was very good of you to send 
me that book of fairy tales. I have read three stories already. 
Affectionately yours. 

Dear Uncle: 

You are so far away, I am afraid you didn't hear the good 
news. Both Mary and I are to be promoted to Grade V. Isn't 
that fine? Father and mother are as happy as we are. 
Your loving nephew. 

In passing, it may be said that the letter in this grade 
should be kept short — not more than four or five sen- 
tences. As often as is possible, it should be actually 
sent somewhere. It should be written on subjects that 
the children know something about and concerning which 
they wish to write. In no other way can real letters be 
secured. 

{d) Copying and Dictation 

These two forms should be employed for the purpose of 
teaching and testing technicalities. Copies should be set 
on the blackboard of sentences illustrating correct use of 
capitals, the letter form, etc. This work is logically 
followed by the short dictation exercise. This latter may 
consist of a single sentence at one time, and of a whole 
short paragraph at another. The good dictation exercise 
should be: 

(1) Definite and planned for the needs of the class. 
It should be chosen for a purpose: at one time to teach 
the punctuation of the grade; at another for the use of 
capitals, etc. 

[83] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(2) Carefully executed as to mechanical form. 

(3) Given not less than twice a week in Grade IV. 
A part of the spelling period may be used in this way. 

Dictation exercises may often be written upon the black- 
board and studied with special attention to points of special 
difficulty. A curtain or map may be drawn over the exer- 
cise, and pupils asked to write with one, and only one, 
reading by the teacher. For correction, let the curtain 
be removed and comparisons made, the teacher standing 
by the board and calling attention to the various points. 
Papers may be exchanged and additional errors looked 
for. The pupils may be asked to turn papers over and 
write again for improved results. Before pupils hand their 
work to either pupils or teacher, they should look over 
their papers for the detection of any errors. 

3. Topics for Paragraphs 

Read what is said on "Composition Subjects" under 
the heading "Written Language," page 27. 

SCHOOL 

What I Like about the School. 

My Monthly Report Card. 

Our Best Indoor Game. 

A Picture in My Schoolroom. 

Helping My Teacher. 

An Interruption in Our Work. 

How We Make a Sewing Apron. 

My Excuse for Being Late. 

How to Keep the Schoolroom Floor Clean. 

SPORTS 

My Ride on the Roller Coaster. 
A Trick I Taught My Dog. 
Fun at Beach. 

[84] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

A Swimming Lesson. 
How to Spin a Top. 
A Tree Mishap. 
My Rabbits. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

The Baby at Our House. 

Waiting for the Mail. 

The Story I Like the Best. 

Spending a Nickel. 

When the Fire Alarm Rings. 

On an Ocean Steamer. 

What I Did on Saturday. 

What I Am Going to Be. 

Watching an Ant. 

A Fireman I Know. 

A Fire I Saw. 

In the Forest with Hiawatha. 

Turning the Tables. 

How I Build a Fne. 

How I Would Direct a Stranger to the PubHc Library. 

A Friend in Need. 

Afraid of a Mouse. 

La the Agassiz Museum. 

When I Visit My Grandmother. 

A Dog I Like. 

The Best Time I Ever Had. 

Making Something Useful. 

A Surprise for Mother. 

My Early Home. 

What I Saw on My Way (to) from School. 

A Dash to Save Life. 

After Water Lihes. 

The Cannon on the Common. 

The Washington Elm. 

Paul Revere Tablets in Cambridge. 

In the Forest. 

[85] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

What I Liked Best in the Circus Parade. 
A Troublesome Neighbor. 
Importance of "Safety First." 
What I Intend to Do for Clean-up Day. 

Jf. Technicalities 

Note that these are few. Some familiar ones are missing. 

(a) Capitals. Holidays, local geographical names. 
In poetry. In letter forms. 

(b) Punctuation. The use of interrogation and excla- 
mation marks. As involved in the writing of dates and 
in letter forms. 

(c) Abbreviations and Contractions. Isn't, wasn't^ Fve, 
won% wouldn't. Others in common use. Abbreviation 
in letter forms. 

(d) Grammatical Errors. Note such written errors 
as the use of "when" for "went"; "they" for "there." 
See list of spoken errors for Grade IV, page 77. 

5. Words Commonly Misspelled 



all right 


doctor 


laughed 


they 


afraid 


dropped 


lose 


too 


almost 


early 


much 


tried 


already 


enough 


people 


truly 


always 


February 


quiet 


until 


beginning 


forty 


quite 


using 


busy 


friend 


Saturday which 


color 


guess 


shining 


whose 


clothes 


having 


their 


women 


coming 


heard 


there 


writing 


aloud 


honest 




ready 


also 


hoping 




really 


among 


hour 




receive 


because 


instead 




rough 


becoming 


just 




spoonful 



[86] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 



believe 


learned 


stopped 


bicycle 


losing 


straight 


built 


meant 


tired 


business 


minute 


touched 


carriage 


ninety 


through 


caught 


often 


used to 


choose 


perhaps 


weather 


early 


pieces 


wholly 


easily 


pleasant 


written 


fourth 


quietly 


wrong 



6, Hints and Helps 

The teaching of one thing for which the pupil is ever 
after responsible, then another thing plus the first, then 
a third plus the first and second, is the surest way of 
getting somewhere. 

It is very important that the pupil read his composition 
through before handing it in. By this means he will 
discover many common errors, such as omission of words, 
misspelled words, incorrect punctuation, and the repetition 
of the same word. He should cultivate the power of 
imagining how it will sound when read aloud. 

The fourth-grade teacher should begin to transfer the 
burden of criticism from her own shoulders to those of her 
pupils. But the criticism of one another's work by the 
pupils must always be controlled and directed by the 
teacher. The children must be made to understand: 

(a) That criticism deals with merits as well as faults. 

(6) That criticism of one another's work should always 
be given to help one another. 

(c) That the pupil must regard his fellow critics as 
his friends, not his enemies. 

In all oral and written compositions the blackboard is 
most useful. By means of it the oral expression is visual- 

[87] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

ized, making pleasing features more emphatic, while 
faulty ones are recorded, to be changed again and again 
until satisfactory. 

The cooperative work of teacher and pupil is made 
more impressive if the blackboard is brought into use in 
working out improvement in the sequence of thought, 
the sentence structure, and the choice of words. The 
teacher may copy upon it compositions which are to be 
criticized by the class; or she may use it for presenting a 
model composition for the pupils to follow in their own 
oral or written constructions. 

One of the best ways to interest and to improve a class, 
particularly the poorly equipped or the indifferent mem- 
bers, is to have pupils write their own compositions on the 
board instead of on paper. This method can be used with 
great profit in a grade as low as the third, and is increas- 
ingly valuable in higher grades. Here the writer is certain 
of an audience, and equally certain of an immediate esti- 
mate of his effort. He desires the appreciation of this 
audience, and wishes to avoid any unfavorable criticism 
from it. Therefore it is natural for him to look over his 
work, correcting his own blunders before reading it aloud 
to the class for their comments. Such exercises are certain 
to develop the appreciation of the difference between 
orderly presentation of events and aimless wandering, 
to deepen the feeling for correct structure, and knowledge 
of the right use of the capitals and the elementary pimctu- 
ation marks. 

7. Written Standards 

1. Last week I went to my aunt's in the country. My uncle 
had a little kitten. He gave it to my mother, and she loved it* 
I wanted to take it, but my uncle didn't let me. He said the 
mother cat would scratch my eyes out, 

[88] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FOURTH GRADE 

^. My dog's name is Teddy. He went out in the yard yester- 
day. He played with my cat, Toodles. The cat jumped on his 
back and Teddy gave him a ride. Then Teddy came in and 
slept under the lounge. 

3. When I was coming to school this morning I saw a dead 
chicken. A boy was carrying it to the ash man. I saw him put 
it in the ash barrel. I felt very sorry to see the dead chicken. I 
think the cat killed it. 

Note. By June, seventy-five per cent of the pupils 
in the fourth grade should be able to write as above. 
Read Outline for Fifth Grade. 



[89] 



Fifth Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read the section on Oral Language, page 6. Read Out- 
line for Fourth Grade,) 
1. Aims 

(a) To make the oral English period one of real interest 
to the pupils. 

(6) To train the class to talk for a few minutes in the 
manner suggested by the illustrations, using good enun- 
ciation and a natural speaking tone. 

(c) To eliminate, through continuous and spirited drill, 
the errors of speech that are most prevalent. 

(d) To lead pupils to "stick to the point." 

The oral language period has not always been one of 
very Uvely interest to children, because the teacher her- 
self has not always taken thought to motivate this work so 
as to make it seem really worth while. This has un- 
questionably been due to the fact that in the past the 
teacher's attention has been centered largely on written 
language. The course here submitted has emphasized 
throughout that good written work is largely dependent 
on good oral work. The teacher who believes this will 
not be content hereafter to conduct the oral language 
exercise as a rather aimless, boresome performance, the 
sooner over with the better. She will see to it that the 
dynamic element is not lacking. The boy who stands up 
to tell his experience must be induced somehow to feel 
that the listening class expects him to be interesting. 
He must realize that his effort will be interesting only 
if he presents with enthusiasm something that he knows 
and really wishes to communicate. If the teacher estab- 
Ushes the right atmosphere, she will get something in the 

[90] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

way of this attitude during the oral composition period. 
Lacking the right atmosphere, the oral composition period 
will hardly justify the time spent upon it. 

2. Examples of Oral Composition 

Great emphasis has been laid in previous grades on the 
point of keeping the sentences short. This has been done 
for the purpose of eliminating the long, drawn-out sen- 
tences (so common in children's speech), interlarded with 
the connectives ''and," "but," and "so." It may be 
said at this point, however, without fear of being misunder- 
stood, that there is no particular virtue in continued 
insistence on the short, "choppy" sentence, if children 
can use the complex sentence in their speech. Some chil- 
dren do, very readily, because all children talk with much 
more freedom than they write. "If my mother does 
not put water in my bird's dish, he sits on it and keeps 
chirping till she pays attention to him." This is not a 
short, "choppy" sentence such as we have been emphasiz- 
ing. It is one, though, that a pupil in the fifth grade may 
naturally use, in place of the short, simple sentences into 
which it may be resolved. If pupils naturally talk in 
this more flowing manner, by all means let them do it. 
The illustrations contain several complex sentences that 
are clearly not beyond the capacity of children in this 
grade. The point to be remembered is that the sentence 
we must eliminate is the compound sentence made up 
of a series of statements strung together. It is surely 
not too much to expect that five years' drill on this 
weakness should have the effect of enabling us to 
send pupils to the sixth grade with the "and" habit 
rooted out. 

As for subjects, the sources suggested in the lower 
grades may still be utilized. (See Third Grade Outline, 

[91] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

page 62.) Teachers will still use the straight reproductive 
exercise sparingly. It is well worth while to read to the 
class once in a while for the purpose of suggesting ideas and 
of illustrating how a similar incident or situation might 
be treated by the pupil. The completion of the un- 
finished incident is always a challenge. History ceases 
to be a bare matter of reproduction in the language period 
if the child translates himself, in imagination, back to 
the past and personifies his heroes. At best, however, 
what the pupil gets second-hand, through his reading, 
is never quite so vital as what comes to him first-hand, 
through his experience — what he feels, and has seen, 
and knows. The subjects suggested, therefore, for written 
composition, which are to be used also for oral com- 
position, are the kind based on experience. The fist of 
pictures in the Appendix also will serve as subject matter. 
The teacher who knows how to ask a few stimulating 
questions cannot help getting ready response when such 
subjects are suggested. 

It will be noted that one of the aims set down is to lead 
pupils to "stick to the point." Small children can't 
be expected to do this. But the fifth-grade teacher 
should impress upon her pupils that they must not talk 
about a string of things in their oral compositions, but 
that they must select some single point, and, as it were, 
*' elaborate "it. What is meant by this term has already 
been explained in the section on *' Written Language," 
page 27. It is referred to again in the Outline for the 
Sixth Grade. 

One of My Playthings 

I have a set of cars at home. The engine used to wind up, 
but it is broken now, so I have to push it along. It was given 
to me one Sunday morning. I came downstairs and went over 
to the sewing machine. I looked on the top of it and there 

[92] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

was a bundle. Written right on the bundle was my name. I 
opened it and there was a set of cars. 

Observation of Nature 

The outside gong at our school was broken. One afternoon 
a man came to fix it. He found a bird's nest with two httle 
speckled eggs in it, inside the bell. We decided to use another 
bell for the rest of the year, so as not to disturb the mother bird. 
We have seen her hopping on the window. Today we heard the 
little baby birds peeping in the nest. 

My Ride on a Roller Coaster 

When I first got on the roller coaster, I thought I was going 
on a level road, but my heart sank when I went down and then 
up so fast. My mother said that if I had been as well used to 
them as she was, I never should have felt it at all. It went so 
fast I lost my breath. Have you been on one? 

Visit to a Doughnut Factory 

I went through a doughnut factory the other day. I saw men 
dressed in white suits pushing dough around on big boards. 
Then the men put the dough in a big machine and doughnuts 
came out all made, but not cooked. Next they put them in a 
big oven, and they were brown when they took them out. The 
man I knew there gave me one. 

June 17th 

On the 17th of June there will be no school. We celebrate 
it on account of the Battle of Bunker Hill. On this day, if you 
see flags floating around on any schoolhouse or ordinary house 
or City Hall, you will know they are celebrating this battle. 
Everybody shoots off firecrackers and things like that on this 
day. This year I think I shall go over to Charlestown and see 
the parade. Then I'm going to Bunker Hill monument and 
climb to the top, if they will let me. My brother says that you 
can see everything from there. 

[93] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

3. Common Errors of Speech 

Certain errors are herewith assigned to this grade. 
The assignment is necessarily arbitrary. If your pupils 
can work with profit on the matter suggested, drill them 
without end, using the language game and other similar 
devices. If the errors listed don't appear in the speech 
of your pupils, pass them by. Under no circumstances 
forget that you should continue the task of stamping out 
errors that the lower-grade teachers have been working on. 
"Ain't" and other such mistakes are linguistic weeds. 
They are hard to kill. No one teacher can complete 
the task of killing them. Remember that the influence 
of the street is all against the school in this matter of cor- 
rectly spoken English. It may even be guessed that the 
boy himseK does not wish to talk correctly. The "crowd" 
talks incorrectly. The juvenile purist is likely to be an 
object of scorn. At best, the elimination of the more 
common inaccuracies is a long-drawn-out task. It means 
drill, drill, drill, not by one teacher, for one year, but by 
several teachers, for several years, without any let-up. 
Don't fail, then, to take up again, if necessary, the mistakes 
of previous grades, and don't under any circumstances 
try to correct them through lessons in formal grammar. 
This warning is here repeated at the risk of its becoming 
monotonous. Grammar will not cause a child to speak 
correct English. 

The following list is grouped in: 

(1) Verb errors. 

(2) Pronoun errors. 

(3) Colloquialisms. 

(4) Mispronunciations. 

This is for the teacher's convenience only. It is not to 
be discussed technically with the children. 
[94] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

(1) Our piano is broke. He done it. 

He hadn't ought to go. It ain't no use. 

You wasn't on the corner. He seen more than you did. 

I come to Cambridge last He don't know his lesson. 

week. 

I've wrote my spelling long Has the bell rang? 



She is laying down. 

(2) Them words are too hard. I can write better than him. 
Me and you will go. 

(3) I can copy it off the board. He was to his house. 
They learn you to cook at She reads good. 

that school. 
Take yom* place in back of They left him go. 

him. 
My mother took sick. Look where you're at. 

It won't hurt nothin'. The answer what you got is 

right. 
I brought it home to my 

mother. 

(4) The candy is et up. Wait till I get me cap. 
They was a new book here. Watch me ketch it! 
Her ran ahead a' me. May I borry a knife? 
Look at 'em! 

4. Helps and Hints 

(a) Keep the following points constantly before the 
pupil: 
Stand up straight. 
Speak distinctly. 
Be careful of your "ands." 
(h) Remember that a natural speaking tone Is one 
that can be heard easily by the boy in the last seat. It 
is not unnatural shouting, any more than it is indistinct 
muttering. 

[95] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(c) Look out for the final syllables and consonants. 
Use the enunciation drills regularly. 

(d) Don't kill the child's spontaneity by interruptions 
during the oral language period. Correct for one thing 
at a time. 

(e) Every recitation is an oral language lesson. Pupils 
should stand up straight, talk distinctly, and with cor- 
rectness at all times. Teachers should not fill out a pupil's 
answer or statement in a recitation. 

(/) Fight against the rising inflection. 
(g) Be sure that every pupil is given a chance to talk. 
Don't develop a few "star performers." 

2. WRITTEN 

1, Aims 

(a) To give pupils the power to write a short para- 
graph or letter made up of short, clean-cut sentences. 
(See standard, page 102.) 

(6) To drill on the words commonly misspelled and 
on common grammatical errors. 

(c) To secure complete mastery of the few techni- 
calities noted. 

(d) To insist on neatness and good arrangement in 
all written work. 

2. Types of Work 
(a) Sentences 

By this time pupils should have the "sentence sense" 
pretty well estabhshed. If the '* Child's Error" still 
appears, continue to use such devices as those suggested 
under this same heading for Grade IV. Remember that 
one of the primary aims of this entire course is to eliminate 
the over-long sentence and the '* non-sentence" from the 
written page. With this idea in mind, it will still be 

[96] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

wise to emphasize the short, simple sentence in Grade V. 
The longer type of the complex variety may be used by 
many fifth-graders in talking, but the attempt to transfer 
it to paper often results in the "clause sentence," with 
which teachers are so familiar. Of course, it goes without 
saying that the pupil with a natural style is not to be held 
back. We should be thankful for everything that we naay 
be able to secure beyond the reasonable requirements set 
down. The majority of the class, however, should be 
held for those reasonable requirements, especially for the 
power to use the simple sentence without bungling. Begin 
to emphasize the use of simple interrogative and exclama- 
tory sentences by way of variety. 

(6) The Paragraph 

No attempt whatever should be made to study the 
construction of the paragraph. The form only should be 
insisted on, with particular attention to the matter of 
indention and mechanical neatness. In length, it should 
not exceed more than a haK page. Children at this age 
grow careless unless written work is kept within rather 
restricted bounds. 

As for the subject matter for these paragraphs, what 
has been said regarding this point under the head of ''Oral 
English" applies with equal force here. The subjects 
listed are in the main of the "incident" type, based on 
the child's own experience. 

Teachers will please bear in mind what has been written 
in another place concerning the kind of subject that should 
be assigned, and will see to it that only such subjects are 
presented to the children. If the paragraph is to be 
short and bright, rather than long and dull, the subjects 
must be right. A little precaution in this respect is worth 
much indeed. 

[97] 



STANDARDS m ENGLISH 

(c) The Short, Familiar Letter 

The letter should form an important part of the written 
work. Remember that the form of the letter must be 
just so. Capitalization, punctuation, and general set-up 
must be not merely correct, but absolutely correct. A 
standard form for the friendly letter is given in the Ap- 
pendix, page 192. This form has presumably been taught 
in the fourth grade. Make sure, by means of an occasional 
dictation, that the pupil has it well in mind. The con- 
tents of these letters should be of the sort already dwelt 
upon. Pupils should write as they actually feel — 
intimate, real letters such as they might wish to send to 
their young friends or to ''grown-ups" whom they like. 
(See models for Grade IV.) 

(d) Copying and Dictation 

These two forms should be employed for the purpose of 
teaching and testing technicalities. Copies should be set 
on the blackboard of sentences illustrating correct use of 
capitals, the letter form, etc. This work is logically 
followed by the short dictation exercise. This latter 
may consist of a single sentence at one time and of a whole 
short paragraph at another. The good dictation exer- 
cise should be definite and planned for the needs of the 
class. It should be chosen for a purpose: at one time to 
teach the punctuation of the grade; at another for the 
use of capitals, etc. Dictation exercises may often be 
written on the blackboard and studied with special atten- 
tion to points of special difficulty. A curtain or map 
may be drawn, over the exercise, and pupils asked to write 
with one, and only one, reading by the teacher. For 
correction, let the curtain be removed and comparisons 
made, the teacher standing by the board and calling 
attention to the various points. Papers may be exchanged 

[98] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

and additional errors looked for. The pupils may be asked 
to turn papers over and write again for improved results. 
Before pupils hand their work to either pupils or teacher, 
they should look on their papers for the detection of any 
errors. 

3, Topics for Paragraphs 

SCHOOL 

The School Team. 

Why I Like the Period. 

How I Explained My Tardiness to the Principal. 

A Tree Tells Its Story. 

A Visit to the Office. 

Waiting for School to Dismiss. 

Our Victrola. 

The Snow Rally. 

The Sewing Lesson. 

If I Were Teacher. 

What We Laughed At. 

Staying after School. 

My Favorite Song, and Why I Like It. 

SPORTS 

How to Make a Kite. 

Playing Croquet. 

Digging Clams. 

My First Fish. 

Making a Snow Man. 

Playing School with My Dolls. 

Our Neighborhood Circus. 

Picking Berries. 

How I Learned to Skate (or Swim, or Ride a Bicycle). 

The First Coast of the Winter. 

A Hot Afternoon. 

An Exciting Swim. 

[99] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

MISCELLANEOUS 

My Lucky Day. 

Indian Relics in Peabody Museum. 

What I Saw when Carrying Dinners. 

A Frightened Animal. 

Burning the Leaves. 

A Ride with the Grocer. 

The Clown. 

Getting the Cows. 

Taking Pictures. 

A Picture in Our House. 

Why I 'd Like to Be a Letter Carrier. 

What I Saw at the Aquarium. 

How I Help to Keep the City Clean. 

A Rainy Afternoon Party. 

What I Wish to Be When I Grow Up. 

When Grandma Comes to Visit Us. 

The Policeman on Our Beat. 

How a Boy Makes Good. 

Fun at the Street Fountain. 

Working on a Farm. 

Feeding the Chickens. 

In the Hayfield. 

Startled by a Snake. 

Cleaning My Yard. 

The Street I Live On. 

My Canary Bird. 

An Afternoon at the Theater. 

Working on Saturday. 

My Whirhgig. 

When I Got Dinner. 

A Man I Like. 

My Baby Brother (or Sister). 

How to Wash Dishes. 



[100] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

-4. Technicalities 

(a) Capitals, Titles of compositions. As involved in 
simple quotations, and in form of familiar letter. Super- 
scription on envelope. 

(6) Abbreviations and Contractions, Abbreviations as 
they come up in arithmetic and geography. Of proper 
names: Mr. Geo., etc. Such common contractions as 
we're, you're^ FlU etc. Carry these over into the spelling 
period, 

(c) Punctuation, Punctuation involved in simple direct 
quotations; and in the heading, salutation, and con- 
clusion of familiar letters. Superscription on envelope. 
The possessive singular. 

(d) Grammatical Errors, Common errors as they ap- 
pear in writing. (See list of spoken errors for Grade V, 
page 95.) 



5, Words Commonly Misspelled 



all right 


color 


laughed 


tired 


already 


coming 


minute 


too 


beginning 


dropped 


people 


truly 


believe 


easily 


quiet 


until 


busy 


enough 


receive 


weather 


business 


friend 


studied 


women 


carriage 


heard 


their 


written 


caught 


know 


there 




answered 


except 




trouble 


cities 


handkerchief 


umbrella 


cousin 


neighboi 




useful 


cotton 


obhge 




village 


different 


pleasant 




whom 


drawer 


repUed 




woolen 


either 


straight 







[101] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

6. Hints and Helps 

(a) Talking should almost invariably precede writing. 
(6) Frequently study and copy short models. 

(c) "Keep the written composition short and repre- 
sentative of the pupil's best effort. Pupils should be held 
responsible for the correct form of the composition, for 
title, margin, indention, correct spelling, etc. They should 
form the habit of looking over all written work carefully 
before handing it in, in order to correct their mistakes. 
A pupil's composition should frequently be copied on the 
board for his criticism and correction." 

(d) Correct one kind of mistake at a time. 

(e) Don't assign general subjects. Make them specific 
and limited. 

(/) Make no attempt to analyze the paragraph idea 
in this grade. Teach the form only. 

(g) Use red ink or blue pencil in correcting. 

Qi) Make corrections few, significant, and neat. 

(i) Don't allow pupils to form wrong habits in copy- 
ing and dictation work. Read chapter on these topics. 

7. Written Standard 

Do Cats or Dogs Make Better Pets? 

I think cats are better pets than dogs, because they are more 
playful. Some cats are good mousers. When a stranger comes 
in, a cat will not bark Uke a dog. I have a cat and a little kitten. 
Most all the time they are playing together. The little kitten 
will run up a board. The big cat will climb up after it and bring 
it down. They are very cunning. 

The above has been selected as a standard simply be- 
cause it seems to illustrate pretty well the sort of composi- 
tion that should satisfy the fifth-grade teacher. It may 
be that after this Course has been tried out, it will be 

[102] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: FIFTH GRADE 

thought best to make some changes in this, and in the 
other Standards tentatively prescribed. It may be also 
that just now some pupils in the fifth grade won't be able 
to write English of a quality similar to the illustration. 
On the other hand, some pupils may write English of a 
much superior grade. Regardless of all these con- 
siderations, the fact remains that here is a standard of 
achievement for the fifth grade. It has been selected 
unscientifically, but yet with considerable care. It may, 
as stated, be changed sometime. In the meantime it is 
pretty certain that if the teachers of Grade V can secure 
written results such as the one illustrated, the teachers in 
Grade VI will be somewhat content. 
Read Outline for Sixth Grade. 



[103] 



Sixth Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read the section on Oral Language, page 5. Read Out- 
line for Fifth Grade.) 

1. Aims 

(a) To give such thought to the handHng of the oral 
language period that it will cease to be either a terror or a 
bore to the pupils. 

(b) Still keeping in mind the short sentence as the safe 
unit in speech, to strive for easy transitions as a step 
toward fluency. 

(c) To insist and insist in every lesson of the day on 
clear enunciation and a natural speaking voice. 

(d) To continue the fight against common errors of 
speech. 

(e) To train children to handle a single phase of a sub- 
ject and to stick to the point. 

Topics (c) and (d) above have been emphasized in the 
work of every grade from the first up. It is not to be 
expected, however, no matter how conscientiously teachers 
may have labored in the lower grades, that the task is 
done. Indeed, any sign of a let-up at this time or later 
will set back lamentably any advance that has been made. 
It is too often the story in school work that the fruits of 
victory are never gathered because some teacher stops 
firing before the enemy is really vanquished. Right habits 
of speech, distinct enunciation, the development of an 
easy natural speaking voice — these things will be secured 
only through the concerted, unremitting efforts of every 
teacher in every grade, not omitting the teachers in the 
high school. The task may seem overwhelming at times, 
when one considers that the school day is only five hours 
' [ 104 ] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

long, and that children are exposed for as long a time daily, 
or longer, to the language habits of the street. The task 
is a hard one, but it can be accomplished, if every teacher 
takes up the work where the previous teacher has left oflF. 
It must not be confined to fifteen-minute drills now and 
then, such as have been heretofore suggested. Every 
lesson is a language lesson. Strive to get clear enunciation 
in all recitations. Be careful of mumbling and half- 
audible speech at all times. Remember that the boy 
in the back seat should hear what the boy (or girl) in the 
front seat says. And remember, too, that the sixth- 
grader is not beyond third-grade drill in sounding final 
consonants and pronouncing "ings." The sixth-grade 
teacher who continues to exercise constant vigilance in 
the matter of pleasing speech will do a very important 
piece of work. For, as has been said, people talk mare 
than they write. The schools, it would seem, have over- 
looked this fact in the past. 
Continue the articulation drills. 

2. Examples of Oral Composition 

The sort of work to be expected from the sixth grade is 
indicated below. The subject matter for such work will 
still be based largely on the pupil's experience, and the 
teacher is advised to turn to the list included in the Out- 
line for Written Work (page 116), for suggestions as to the 
subjects themselves. The illustrations cited below begin 
to show a more easy, flowing style, caused by the occasional 
use of the complex sentence, and once in a while a good 
transition phrase. Not all pupils will display power along 
this line. Some will still confine themselves to the straight 
"subject, verb, object" sentence, such as we found in 
the third grade. But even with these non-literary in- 
dividuals, the teacher can make a beginning in substituting 

[105] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

the more obvious connectives for "and," "but/* "then." 
Of course, the sentence sense is by this time a sine qua non. 
The pupil of a Unguistic turn may, in this grade, be han- 
dhng the longer complex sentence with ease. This should 
not be discouraged. Neither, however, should it at this 
time be especially worked for. Long sentences, even yet, 
are apt to be dangerous tools. 

One of the aims mentioned in Section 1 is "to train 
children to handle a single phase of a subject and to stick 
to the point." This has been mentioned before in the 
fifth grade. It becomes more and more important as the 
child goes along. What is meant by handling a single 
phase of a subject may be best brought out by the con- 
trast between these two compositions: 

How I Help My Mother 

Every day when I get up in the morning I eat my breakfast, 
wash the dishes, do the beds, and sweep the floor. Then I get 
ready to go to school. In the afternoon I just wash the dishes, 
and my sister sweeps the floor. When I come home from school, 
I do all the errands. Later I go out to play. When it is five 
o'clock I go home and stay home. At six o'clock we have supper. 
When we are all over with supper, I gather the dishes from the 
table. When I am done, I start to wash the dishes. When 
I have finished I say my prayers and go to bed. 

How I Help My Mother 

My share of the housework is washing the dishes. There are 
six of us at home. So you see we have a great many dishes to 
wash. I have never tried to reckon it, but I am sure I wash 
a million in a year. My sister wipes them, and we both wish 
we Hved in the times when people ate out of the same dish with 
their fingers. We play this game to keep up our courage. We 
try to do them quicker every week. Last week we gained four 
minutes. We didn't break any dishes either. 

[106] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

The above themes are cited in the Lawrence Course of 
Study as striking illustrations of the right and the wrong 
way of handling the topic given. The first is a schedule 
of a day of housework, a mere catalogue of events, correct 
enough, but wholly uninteresting. The author of the second 
paragraph chose a single item of the day's work and treated 
it in a very interesting way. It is this treatment of the 
paragraph that the sixth grade should strive for. 

How to Keep a Neat Desk 

Keeping a neat desk is a very easy thing to do. The desk 
must be cleared out once a week, then everything put back in 
good order, with the books on one side, papers, pencils, and pens 
on the other. To make it look neat, the larger books should be 
at the bottom, with the smaller placed on top of them according 
to their size. If there is a penwiper and other small things of that 
sort, such as pencil sharpener or penknife, it would be a good 
plan to have them kept in a little box at the back of the desk. 
It would be best, if there is a blotter, to put it on top of the papers 
in the middle. Only as many papers as are necessary should be 
kept in the desk. The top of the desk should be kept clean 
and free from dust. The ink-well cover should be closed except 
when the ink is being used. When leaving school at night, 
nothing should be left on the top of the desk. 

A Hallowe'en Scare 

Last year at Hallowe'en time the children on the top floor of 
om house held a Hallowe'en party. Before the guests came, 
some of the children dressed up as ghosts and hid in a corner in 
the entry. When the guests came to the corner of the entry, 
the ghosts came out and frightened them so much that they ran 
down the steps as fast as they could. Then the ghosts took 
off their masks, ran after their guests, and invited them to come 
back to the house. Soon all the children came back into the 
house, now aware that it was their friends who had frightened 
them. Games were played and a very happy evening was spent. 

C 107 ] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Getting Up on a "Zero" Morning 

When I awoke one morning this winter, I thought my room 
looked cold. I happened to glance at the windows. They were 
so white with frost I could not see out of them ! I knew then that 
Jack Frost had made a visit during the night. I put my arm 
outside the bedclothing and a chill went through me. My 
mother called to me and I shivered at the thoughts of getting up. 
At last I got up courage enough to jump out of the bed. I 
immediately ran to the window and closed it, as I had it open all 
night to let the fresh air in. I felt that I had fresh air enough. 
While I was dressing I nearly froze. I thought to myself that 
Iceland or Greenland couldn't be much colder than that room. 
After I got my clothes on, I went into the bathroom and plunged 
my face and hands into a bowl of cold water. Then I rubbed 
my skin with a Turkish towel till it got very red. I felt much 
warmer and decided that I could go down to breakfast. 

When Mother Goes Away 

When mother goes away, I dress up in her old clothes and make 
beheve that I am the mother. I take care of baby, and make sure 
to have all the work done when she comes home. I like to get 
the supper, too, but father always makes fun of my cooking. 
When mother goes away in the summer and takes baby, I dress 
my doll up in some of the baby's clothes, so that people think 
it's a real baby that I am carrying. I take out all my playthings 
and play house. Mother says I will make a good housekeeper. 
She then gives me cake and bread, and other things to play with. 
I invite some of my girl friends, and we have much fun playing. 

An Exciting Game 

Yesterday morning after breakfast I went out in the street 
to play cowboy. Another boy and I were the sheriffs. My 
brother and Joe Small were bandits. The truck was the stage- 
coach. The two sheriffs guarded the stage coach when it went 
to get the things we called jewels. Our steps were the camp 
where the cowboys Uved. As we got near the camp, the bandits 

[108] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

attacked the coach. We heard the driver call for help. We ran 
back and captured the bandits. We put them in handcuffs, 
which we made out of wire. Then we took the bandits to 
prison. As we were letting the bandits out of prison we heard 
the twelve o'clock whistles blowing. That meant that it was 
time for us to go in to dinner. 

Camping 

I go to Mattapoisett in the summer and play with a little boy 
who comes from Melrose Highlands. Last summer we made a 
camp in the yard, all by ourselves. No big boys helped us, 
either. Mother cooked the potatoes in the house and then let 
us take them, pot and all, out into the camp. She was afraid 
to let us make a fire and we did want some smoke. What do 
you suppose we did? You can't guess? Well, we have some- 
thing that keeps mosquitoes away, which smokes a lot, and 
doesn't flame up or burn you. We had two of them, and they 
made piles of smoke. We had packs of fun. 

3. Errors of Speech 

The errors suggested below are listed for the purpose of 
hinting at the different kinds of inaccuracies that the 
teacher may expect to find in the children's speech. Ob- 
viously it would be a waste of time for a teacher to use this 
list, textbook fashion, and take up every error regardless 
of the weaknesses of the children along this line. Much 
better rather is it for the teacher, bearing in mind the 
different tendencies toward verb errors, pronoun errors, 
colloquialisms, and the like, to note these different errors 
as they actually occur in the classroom, and drill on them. 
Technical grammar is taught for the first time in this 
grade. But even at this stage these grammatical mis- 
takes are not to be corrected through the medium of 
technical grammar. The only sure way of purifying the 
child's speech is the way of causing him to repeat the 
right form, until it becomes natural for him to say it. 

C 109 ] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 



Use a language game for a few minutes every day. (See 
Appendix, page 184.) Refer constantly to ''Language 
Games for all Grades," for ideas as to how the common 
error is to be dealt with. 



(1) 



The ice had broke. 
The picture is tore. 
I seen him when he done it. 
I come to school early this 
morning. 



(2) Hand me them books. 



There was two new boys in 

the yard. 
He done his work first. 
You wasn't there. 
'Taint no good. 
She don't want them. 

Who is going, you or me? 
It was me that lent the book. 



(3) John took my knife ofif me. Here, look 't. 

She's just after coming. He was to church. 

My teacher learned me to It went fine. 

write. 

It sort of makes you afraid. Where are you at.^^ 

Leave me see. We won't have no school 

today. 

I have a book what has no I hat ter go home, 
cover. 



Mary talked like he did. 
Can I speak to her.^^ 

(4) What are you doin'? 
Are they any school? 
I'm a thinkin' a goin' to- 
night. 
Gimme a book. 



The water pipe is all froze up. 

Kin' you ketch the ball? 
Give it to 'em. 
My mudder gave me the 
book. 



Jf, Hints and Helps 

(a) Keep the following points constantly before the 
pupils: 

Stand up straight. 
Speak distinctly. 
Be careful of your "ands." 
[110] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

(6) Make the pupils feel that they are to be credited 
in language not only for their ability to write, but also for 
their ability to talk. The one is as important as the other. 
The boy that talks correctly and interestingly will write 
in the same way. 

(c) The "and" habit should be completely conquered 
in this grade. 

(d) Don't kill the child's spontaneity by interruptions 
while he is talking. Don't allow him to be interrupted, 
either, by others in the class. 

{e) Look out for the final syllables and consonants. 
Use the enunciation drills suggested under ''Oral English," 
page 12. 

(/) Be sure that every pupil is given a chance to 
talk. The easy talker should not monopolize too much 
time. 

{g) Don't allow a pupil to talk on and on. The class 
loses interest in the performance, and the pupil himself 
grows careless in his speech. 

2. WRITTEN 

1. Aims * 

(a) To complete the work of establishing the sentence 
sei^se. 

(6) To develop the power to write a short paragraph 
with some attention to arrangement of ideas. 

(c) To write and send frequently short, familiar letters. 

(d) To drill on the words commonly misspelled and on 
common grammatical errors. 

{e) To secure complete mastery of the few technicalities 
noted. 

(/) To insist on neatness and good arrangement in all 
written work. 

[Ill] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

2. Types of Work 

(a) Sentences 

The first aim set down above is "to complete the work 
of estabUshing the sentence sense." This means just what 
it says. No pupil who has had six years of continuous 
instruction in this particular should go on to the seventh 
grade writing the "comma sentence," the "clause sen- 
tence," or the quasi-compound sentence sprinkled with 
"ands." It must not be forgotten, however, that for some 
time after this course appears, sixth-grade pupils will not 
have been subjected to all this preliminary drill. At the 
same time it may be noted that while in general the sen- 
tence sense is not a diflBcult thing to impart, there are 
some more or less subtle phases of it that for a long time 
baffle children. Pupils who, for instance, would never 
think of using a comma instead of a period to close a 
sentence will, nevertheless, use a period instead of a comma 
before an appended clause, and thus produce the eflFect 
of hanging the latter in mid-air. The sixth-grade teacher 
will be troubled by this. She will also be troubled by the 
fact that just now her pupils will come to her not well 
grounded in the more simple aspects of sentence formation, 
as just noted. Nevertheless, we shall still insist that 
pupils go to the seventh grade equipped to handle the 
simple sentence with assurance. If the class is found 
to be "sentence weak," there should be much blackboard 
work. If only individuals are weak, they should be 
coached individually on this point alone, until all traces 
of weakness disappear. In this grade the sentence exer- 
cises found in Lewis's Manual of Composition should 
prove very helpful. Teachers can also continue to use, 
with profit, the devices suggested in Grades IV and V 
for sentence betterment. 

On the positive side the teacher may well make a 

[112] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

beginning in this grade of getting the effect of variety 
by encouraging the use of interrogative and exclamatory 
sentences. The fifth-grade teachers may have done 
something in this particular, since it has been mentioned, 
more or less incidentally, in the outline for that grade. 
In the sixth grade there is a good opportunity to connect 
it with the work in formal grammar, which treats of kinds 
of sentences in some detail. The beginnings and the 
endings of themes, in particular, may be made different, 
if children can be given some skill in using interrogative 
or exclamatory sentences in those places. 

Work of this kind can be very easily overdone, however, 
and may result in a forced, unnatural effect that would 
much better be avoided. The teacher will do well to rely 
a good deal on the reading of the model for the imparting 
of language effects of this kind. "Language is caught — 
not taught." Imitation is a powerful factor in producing 
English of quahty. But pupils do not naturally react 
quickly to a language stimulus of this sort. The child's 
power to write anything other than correct English can 
be trained, but it can't be forced. The teacher should be 
content with slow progress here. The seventh and eighth 
grade teachers will carry the work along farther. 

The most important thing for the sixth-grade teacher to 
remember is that, regardless of this matter of developing 
EngUsh power, which is more or less optional with her, 
depending on the linguistic abihty of her class, she must 
send pupils to the seventh grade with the sentence sense 
established, to the end that in the seventh grade some 
effective work may be done along more advanced lines. 

(6) The Paragraph 

In this, as in previous grades, the word "paragraph" 
is intended to indicate simply the length of the pupil's 

[113] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

eflfort. Themes should not exceed, in general, fifteen 
Knes, just about the number that would normally con- 
stitute a paragraph. The mechanical form is to be rigidly 
insisted on; i.e., indention, the set-up of the page, and so 
on. But the technical structure is not to be studied. 
At the same time pupils can be led to appreciate the differ- 
ence between the paragraph that has some unity (though 
this word is taboo) and the one that is a mere uninteresting 
catalogue of facts. This distinction has been aheady 
brought out and illustrated under the head of "Oral 
Language" for this grade (page 106). What has there 
been said applies here. Oral language and written lan- 
guage are but two halves of a whole. 

(c) The Familiar Letter 

The form of the letter and of the envelope should be 
just so. It is true that there is more than one form in 
good use. It has seemed best, however, to require that 
in the elementary school we teach only one and insist on 
that. Pupils may indulge their own tastes in the matter 
later. For the present they must learn thoroughly how 
to punctuate and capitalize, exactly as prescribed in the 
model form. (See Appendix, page 192.) Nothing is so 
inexcusable as to allow our pupils to graduate without 
a certain-sure knowledge of the form of social corre- 
spondence. 

The content of these letters is, however, the side of this 
work that should most concern the teacher. It has been 
said in another place that school compositions are often 
dull and lifeless because children see no purpose in the 
writing of them. Children can be made to see a purpose 
in writing letters, especially if the teacher frequently sees 
to it that these letters go to some destination other than 
the wastebasket. Lacking other correspondents, pupils 

[114] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

may be allowed to write letters even one to another. 
It is not difficult to furnish the element of purpose 
to this work, if some Uttle thought is given to it. 
Only by doing this can teachers secure anything ap- 
proaching a real letter, the kind that is written be- 
cause of a real desire on the part of the pupil to tell 
something to somebody. It goes without saying, of 
course, that all letters written in the classroom can't 
be actually sent. It is true, however, that the clever 
teacher will not find it necessary to send them all, or 
nearly all, in order to maintain interest. A little atten- 
tion here goes a long way. 

(d) Copying and Dictation 

By this time the pupil should have attained such fa- 
cihty in copying that less time need be devoted to 
it. If, however, such is found to be not the case, by 
all means let it be kept up. Children are given practice 
in this work so that they may learn to copy with ab- 
solute correctness and without undue loss of time. 
Generally speaking, our upper-grade pupils are weak 
in these particulars today because of lack of sufficient 
intelligent attention to the work of copying lower down. 
That the power to copy correctly and rapidly is of 
practical value is given ample evidence by the im- 
portance attached to it in the world of business. Time 
can be wasted in this exercise, however, very easily. 
For mistakes to be avoided, the teacher is referred to 
what has been written on this topic under "Written 
Language" (page 34). 

The dictation exercise is to be given mainly to test the 
pupil's power to use correctly the technicaUties that the 
pupil is supposed to know. It is not a sure test, as else- 
where stated, because it is no extraordinary thing for a 

[115] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

pupil to set down a quotation, for instance, correctly in 
the dictation exercise, and yet slip up on the same point 
when writing a theme. Nevertheless, it is a great aid in 
clinching language forms, and the oftener used, the more 
certain are those forms to become matters of habit. The 
correct form of the letter, correct capitalization, and 
such other technicaUties as the needs of the class require 
should be frequently tested. (For more on this point see 
under the same heading for Grade V, page 98.) 

3. Topics for Paragraphs 

SCHOOL 

The School Yard at Recess. 

The Boy (Girl) in Front of Me. 

How to Keep a Neat Desk. 

My First Day in School after a Month's Absence. 

How the Ink was Spilled. 

Running Errands for the Teacher. 

The Spelling Match. 

Our Christmas Entertainment. 

Listening for the No Session Bell. 

Monologue — by a School Clock. 

Why I Wasn't Promoted. 

At Dancing School. 

What I Saw a Boy (Girl) Do. 

SPORTS 

Coasting. 

A Potato Roast. 

Doing the Dead Man's Float. 

My First Night Sleeping on the Ground. 

A Bicycle Ride. 

Fishing through the Ice. 

A Hallowe'en Scare. 

How to Play Golf. 

My New Toy. 

[116] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

Camping Out. 

An Automobile Ride. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

The Scarecrow. 

Getting Up on a Zero Morning. 

Our Program on the Afternoon before April 19. 

How to Procure a Library Card. 

How to Treat a Frightened Horse. 

An Anecdote about Washington. 

When My Ship Comes in. 

Being Housekeeper. 

A Week-End Vacation. 

Experiences of a Messenger Boy. 

The Boy Who Plays with Me. 

My Birthday Party. 

The Story I Like Best. 

What I Would Do in Case of Fire. 

The Mysterious Disappearance. 

An Important Telephone. 

Going to the Store in the Morning for Mother. 

When Mother Goes away. 

If I Had My Own Way. 

The Busy English Sparrow. 

How I Made My Garden. 

How We Earned Our Christmas Tree. 

How to Sew on a Button. 

Our Silly Puppy. 

My First Long Trousers. 

The First Time I Fired a Gun. 

A PecuHar Mistake. 

Playing Soldier. 

Taking Pictures. 

At the Moving Pictures. 

CHmbing Bunker Hill Monument. 

The Baby at Our House. 

What Frightened Me. 

[117] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

^. Technicalities 

(a) Capitals. Titles of persons; religious denomi- 
nations; political parties; north, east, etc., as parts of 
country; rivers, lakes, etc., when used with proper names. 

(fe) Abbreviations and Contractions, States and months. 
Dr., Mr., Rev., a.m., p.m., and others in very common 
use. Such contractions also as are commonly used: 
rily didn't, they're, let's, o'clock, etc. Review work of 
previous grades. 

(c) Punctuation. Drill insistently on the punctuation 
involved in the form of famiUar letters and on envelopes. 
Punctuation involved in the work on simple quotations. 
Do not spend time on comma in a series and comma after 
name of person addressed. 

{d) Grammatical Errors. Drill on common errors as 
they reveal themselves in the written work. See Kst under 
"Oral English," page 110. 

5. Words Commonly Misspelled 

already diflFerent oblige their 



all right 


enough 


pleasing 


there 


beginning 


except 


quite 


too 


beheve 


friend 


really 


truly 


bicycle 


having 


receive 


using 


business 


heard 


replied 


woolen 


coming 


minute 


studying 


writing 


absence 


describe 


separate 




allowed 


hurried 


several 




attacked 


library 


speech 




certainly 


occurred 


smprised 




clothing 


seized 







6. Hints and Helps 

As a rule, compositions should not be rewritten. The 
pupil should feel that he must give the teacher a careful, 

[118] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SIXTH GRADE 

good-looking piece of work. He should not be asked to 
dash it off without chance for correcting and remodeling. 
Rather he should be encouraged to consult dictionaries, 
to erase and rephrase — on a first rough draft — until 
it is his best effort. Then a copy is made for the teacher. 
Fm'ther rewriting, in general, should be only for sloven- 
hness. Weaknesses noted by the teacher should be talked 
over with the class. It is good policy to concentrate on 
one or two at a time. Errors should be indicated rather 
than corrected. Pupils should revise their own work. 

7. Written Standard 

The School Yard at Recess 

The recess bell rings at half-past ten, the drum begins to beat 
and we file out to the playground. When we are once on the 
playground, there is an awful rush. Some are playing ball, 
others are playing jump-rope and "take away." From the 
playground you can see everything that goes on in the street. 
The playground is all humps and rather sandy, so that your 
shoes are all dust when you stop playing. At quarter of eleven 
the bell rings to go in, and we get in line and go back to work. 



[119] 



Seventh Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read the section on ''Oral Language^^ page 5. Read 
Outline for Sixth Grade.) 
1. Aims 

The teacher who has read this course carefully up to this 
point — and every seventh-grade teacher should have done 
this — cannot help appreciating that all the way along 
we have been insisting in this oral work on a few very 
specific things. In every grade it has been laid down that 
pupils should be trained to talk in sentences; that they 
should be induced to talk with clear enunciation and in 
a natural speaking tone; that they should be drilled and 
drilled in correct English forms. Other aims have been 
set down here and there. But those just mentioned have 
been kept constantly before the minds of the teachers, and 
— it is hoped — before the minds of the pupils also in 
the work of the first six grades. The pupil, accordingly, 
who comes to the seventh grade after six years of such 
training should have developed the power of talking for 
a few minutes upon a subject famihar to him in simple, 
clear, and grammatical English, with clear enunciation 
and a natural pitch of voice. Let there be no mistake here. 
Not every pupil will register one hundred per cent in 
these particulars. The teacher will continue to find in 
the seventh grade those upon whom the language of the 
street still has its hold. She will still find the non-linguistic 
individual who is panic-stricken into incoherence or dumb- 
ness when called upon to talk to the class. And most cer- 
tainly will she find pupils lapsing back into all the errors and 
all the slovenliness of speech that have been drilled upon, 
unless she watches with vigilance and works with diligence. 
The point is, however, that six years of careful training 

[120] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

even in such a difficult field should have laid a fairly 
firm foundation for further building. The seventh- 
grade teacher, while ever watchful to conserve the 
foundation,^ should aim to build further along the 
following hues: 

(a) She should aim to give a real vital purpose to this 
work of oral language. This has been said several times 
before. But its importance becomes greater as the pupil 
advances through the grades. It is a common thing for 
upper-grade teachers to affirm that it becomes increasingly- 
difficult to get the more advanced pupils to talk, because 
of increasing self -consciousness. There may be some good 
psychology in this. It may also be, however, that the 
older pupil in the past hasn't talked very readily, be- 
cause he hasn't seen any particular sense in the perform- 
ance. The oral composition period will always remain 
a perf imctory time killer, unless the teacher recognizes that 
she must bring to it just as much thought and skill as she 
would expend on the developing of a lesson in geography. 
If she doesn't do this, the work does indeed become per- 
functory, and the boy or girl of twelve, who is shrewd 
enough to recognize it as such, soon becomes indifferent. 
The remedy is to charge this period with interest. The 
seventh-grader is interested in things just as is the second- 
grader, and will talk about them if properly stimulated. 
His interests and activities are, of course, different. He 
begins to have views, opinions. The teacher should know 
this and should try to bring them forth. In this grade the 
oral composition may well call for more sustained effort. 
The pupil should make a start in expressing his opinions 
(original or gathered from his reading) of persons, meas- 
ures, events, books, historical and Uterary characters. 
In this grade also it is well to give out topics several days 
in advance, so that real preparation can be made with 

I 121 ] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

a view to oral presentation. There is no good reason why 
pupils in the upper grades should wish to have the oral 
language task done with as soon as possible. The best 
oral language lesson that the writer has ever witnessed 
was presented a short time ago by a group of pupils in 
a Cambridge eighth grade. The boys explained with 
the aid of blackboard illustrations certain games that 
were more or less unfamiliar to the girls. The latter recip- 
rocated with similar illustrated talks on girls' activities. 
Both boys and girls felt that it was incumbent upon them 
to make things clear to people who knew nothing about 
the topic in hand. And they strove with interest to do 
it. Here was a dynamic situation. No indifference was 
evident. There will be none, if upper-grade teachers use 
their ingenuity to insure that pupils ''have something 
to say." 

(6) Building up a vocabulary . This topic has been al- 
ready considered in the section on ''Oral Language" (page 
15). In the two upper grades the teacher can do some tell- 
ing work of this kind. The child's stock of connectives and 
of transitional words and phrases should be enlarged. Up 
to now we have been warring against "and," "but,'* 
"so," and other such overused connectives. The result 
has been a certain "choppiness" of style, as the illustra- 
tions in the previous grades show. Now pupils must use 
connectives, if their talk is to be at all easy or fluent. 
The task is to familiarize them, from time to time, 
with connectives that are in good use. As suggested 
elsewhere, they may be required to learn lists of such. 
The teacher would do better, however, to rely on the 
use of the model in her handling of this phase of 
language teaching. 

Through the use of the model also the teacher should 
aim to inculcate a sense of word values. It is not expected 

[122] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

that grammar school children will become expert in the 
use of exact, appropriate, and expressive words. All that 
teachers should hope to do, or try to do, is to awaken in 
their pupils the beginnings of an appreciation of words, 
so that some of them, at least, will not be satisfied with the 
meager stock of worn-out words with which many people 
are content to express themselves both in speech and 
writing. Most people stop learning words as soon as they 
have accumulated a vocabulary sufficient to communicate 
their commonest wants, and go through life on a fourth- 
grade vocabulary. The school, therefore, ought to do a 
little more than it has done to start the current of children's 
thought in the direction of a better choice of words in their 
speech and their writing. It is work that will not take 
much time. Occasional talks upon the value of expressive 
words, illustrated and reinforced by the reading of selec- 
tions from writers who are acknowledged masters of the 
art of diction, will do much to arouse a desire in the pupils 
to use a livelier verb here or a more expressive adjective 
there in their written paragraphs. As the pupil listens 
to something finely said by a master, he catches here and 
there the choice word and the happy phrase. "'Language 
is caught, not taught." This applies especially to the 
work of vocabulary building. 

2. Examples of Oral Composition 

The illustrations entered below are not set up as stand- 
ards. They are samples only of oral work that has actu- 
ally been secured from Cambridge classrooms during the 
past year. They are satisfactory in that they are free from 
errors that we have been fighting thus far. On the 
positive side, moreover, they show a tendency toward 
fluency and a clever turn here and there that mark the 
faint beginnings of "style." The teacher may feel 

[123] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

highly pleased if the majority of her class can talk in the 
way illustrated. 

Read also what has been written under this heading for 
the sixth grade (page 105). 

An Amusing Mishap in School 

Several years ago, I remember that there was a httle boy who 
used to enter our school every morning. Being just a Httle fel- 
low, he thought it great fun to go to school. He appeared to be 
between three and four years of age. He was a poor boy also, 
I should think, for he had very ragged clothes. One morning 
he came in the front door and walked along the corridor to our 
room. Looking in, he was amazed to see all the children. But 
he walked in just the same and was going to sit down when 
the teacher opposite us appeared. She asked us why we were 
laughing. When we told her, she asked a boy to take the 
intruder home. The poor boy was now very much afraid and 
never entered the school again. 

An Ajgument 

Some people think boys are more useful to their parents than 
girls. Well, maybe they are in some ways, but in my judgment 
girls are more useful. The boys are very handy in chopping 
wood and bringing up the coal from the cellar and beating carpets 
and cleaning up the yard and such things as that. But they 
can't take a mother's place in the housework. The girls can take 
a mother's place anywhere. The boys may try, but I don't 
think they succeed. Then besides, when a boy is playing with 
his comrades at baseball or anything that is very interesting, 
you can never get him to do an errand. The girls, on the other 
hand, think a good deal about what is next to be done at home. 

The houses are kept cleaner when taken care of by a girl. 
A girl would never think of going out without having the house 
clean. The most of the boys say, "I will do the work when I 
come in." But they seldom do. People, of course, think 
different ways, but I think girls are more useful to their parents. 

11124] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 
In the Old Garret 

One afternoon, Elsa and her cousin Alice planned to search 
their grandmother's garret, for she had many old-fashioned 
dresses that the children deUghted in. 

In the garret it was cool, and Elsa and Ahce reached the old 
cedar chest in which grandma kept the lovely dresses with a 
sense of pleasure. As they took the clothes out, Alice suddenly 
declared she would try some of them on, and Elsa followed her 
example. 

And so, the two girls spent a happy hour in the old garret, 
parading up and down in front of the long mirror kept there. 
When the girls went to bed that night I am sure they dreamt 
the pleasantest of dreams. 

John's Fire 

John counted one, two, three, four, and so on up to sixty- 
eight. It was a fire! Now John's mother had forbidden him 
to go to fires. But John's mother was away, and so John thought 
that he'd " take a chance." The house was burned to the ground. 
The firemen saved a few things, but not many. Luckily the 
property was insured, and the people got something from the 
insurance company. John got something, too, when he got 
home. But it was not from the insurance company. 

3. Errors of Speech ^ 

The following errors are to be drilled on through the 
medium of the language games, if the teacher finds that her 
class needs drill on these particular errors. The teacher 
should feel free to work on all, or some, or none of these 
errors, according to the needs of her class. She should 
also feel perfectly free to drill on other errors that may crop 
out from time to time. These inaccuracies will never be 
corrected by relying on the lessons in formal grammar. 
Correct speech is not acquired in this way. The fact that 
pupils in this grade know some grammatical rules will be 

[125] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

of considerable help. And the teacher will, of course, be 
sure to make the child's knowledge of formal grammar 
function in his everyday speech. When all is said and 
done, however, it is constant practice under never failing 
watch and correction that makes pupils talk well. 

Some of the errors noted below, and others that the 
teacher may note, are made simply because children 
mumble and bite off their words. Use the enunciation 
drills constantly, 

(1) Who are you going for? Me and my brother wrote it. 
Where's them two tickets? 

(2) We were to the show. My pen don 't write good. 
That book learns you how He had kind of a hard time. 

to take care of animals. 
Shall I bring this book Draw it Uke I said. 

home? 
I wouldn't be left do it. I'm all better now, 

(S) Is every one in their place? 
Those kind of flowers ain't 

pretty. 
I didn't go no place. 

(4) He wouldn't of gone. She uster live on Elm St. 

Are they any pencils? Can't you see 'em? 

I'm doin' my work. Doncher see? 

4^. Hints and Helps 

In a recent survey of classroom teaching in the city of 
New York, shorthand reports of eighteen recitations 
showed that all the pupils together used about five thou- 
sand words, while their teacher used about nineteen thou- 
sand words. Who does the most talking in your room? 

"When a boy's slouching, nerveless posture against his 
desk, and his slovenly enunciation of disjointed half- 

C126] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

sentences, have been exchanged for a body held erect, 
a voice and an enunciation that carry thought clearly 
stated, you have a boy who has gained in character as 
well as in abihty to talk correctly upon his feet." 

Remember that every lesson is a language lesson. 
When pupils read, when they explain a problem in arith- 
metic, when they recite in history — at all times when 
they talk, they should be held responsible for good English 
and a good, clear tone. This can't be said too often. 

2. WRITTEN 

{Read the section on ''Written Language y'' page 16.) 

1, Aims 

(a) To work for sentence betterment, 

(b) To develop further the power of effective arrange- 
ment of ideas in the short paragraph. 

(c) To drill on words commonly misspelled. 

(d) To secure complete mastery of the few technicalities 
noted. 

(e) To insist on neatness and good arrangement in all 
written work. 

2. Types of Work 
(a) Sentences 

Up to this point we have striven to establish the sen- 
tence sense. The first aim set down for the sixth grade 
is '*to complete the work of establishing the sentence 
sense." Acting on the assumption that this has been done, 
the seventh-grade teacher may take up work in "sentence 
betterment." What this term means is too well known 
to the upper-grade teachers of Cambridge to call for any 
explanation of it here. A few suggestions are given as 
to the more simple aspects of this work that might be 

[127] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

handled with profit in this grade. One cannot help 
expressing the caution here against an overdoing of this 
sentence manipulation. Such a course must inevitably 
result in so confusing pupils as to bring about an awkward- 
ness of style, an artificial effect, that should be avoided 
at any cost. The primary and most fundamental aim of 
this course is to teach children to express themselves in 
speech and on paper clearly and simply. Any work that 
tends to befog clearness of expression, or to render the 
child's effort artifically "styKsh," is bad. The teacher 
with good language sense will know when to put the brakes 
on. It goes without saying, incidentally, that the teacher 
with good language sense will attempt to do very little 
in the way of securing any conscious attempts at style 
unless the assumption expressed above — that the sen- 
tence sense is estabhshed — is, in truth, not an assumption, 
but an actuahty. 

Try to better the sentence in the following ways: 

(1) Exercises in securing variety in beginning sentences. 

(2) Exercises in combining, expanding, and contracting 
sentences. 

(3) Exercises in using complex sentences. 

(4) Exercises in selecting sets of simple sentences that 
have unity and combining them into complex sentences. 

Watch for the following awkwardnesses: 

(1) The "and" habit. 

Example: 

Hans was walking backward and forward on the mountain 
side, and his eyes were fixed on the ground, and he did not see 
me approach. 

(2) Change from active to passive voice. 

(3) Change of tense. 

(4) The monotonous use of "but." 
[128] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

(6) The Paragraph 

From time immemorial it has been customary for 
seventh-grade teachers to spend a great deal of their lan- 
guage time in working on the technical structure of the 
paragraph. This course does not call for any intensive 
study of the paragraph idea. Children are induced 
to try for interesting beginnings. They are trained, as 
suggested in Grade VI, to pick out a rather restricted 
phase of a subject, to treat it with brevity, and to stop 
when they have finished. The subjects Usted in every 
grade have been of a concrete variety, adapted to this 
sort of treatment. Indirectly, training of this kind makes 
for both unity and emphasis. It is thought better to 
secure these very desirable elements of style in this 
indirect way. Conscious work in paragraph analysis 
has never been very profitable in the average seventh 
grade. At the same time it must be always borne in 
mind that we exclude certain lines of effort as less valuable 
only because others are more valuable. If a seventh 
grade can work with profit on the paragraph idea, no harm 
is done by teaching it. 

(c) Familiar Letters and Business Correspondence 

The seventh-grade teacher is advised to read the chapter 
on "Letters" in Goldwasser's Method and Methods in the 
Teaching of English. As already stated in the OutKne 
for the Fourth Grade, this chapter is most helpful in the 
way of setting forth the conditions that make for real 
letter writing. The teacher can do no better than model 
the work of her pupils on the illustrations cited in this 
book. The form of the famiKar letter is shown in the 
Appendix. Here, too, is set forth the form of the business 
letter, which is taught for the first time in this grade. 
Under the general head of "Business Correspondence" 

C 129 ] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

we shall include such items as: (1) Applications for a 
position; (2) ordering goods; (3) bills, checks, etc. It 
must be remembered that, in so far as form goes, all varie- 
ties of business correspondence must be 100 per cent 
correct. That is the standard of business. 

(d) Copying and Dictation 

See under this heading for Grade VI. Copying and 
dictation may be profitably used in Grade VII for teaching 
and testing accuracy in the handling of business forms. 

3. Topics for Paragraphs 

SCHOOL 

What the School Clock Saw. 

When the Master Comes in for a Lesson. 

A Grand Army Man at Our School. 

Does it Pay to Stay in School until Graduation.'^ 

My Hopes on Promotion Day. 

Compare a Schoolhouse and a Beehive. 

Why Grammar is an Essential Study. 

An Interesting School Exercise. ^ 

When the Master Came In. 

The First Day of School. 

An Amusing Mishap. 

How I Got My Newsboy's License. 

My First Day in the Grade. 

In Our Assembly Hall. 

Friday Afternoon. 

Our Last HoHday Exercise. 

Why We Should Play Fair. 

How to Behave When Your Teacher is Sick. 

What Made the Teacher Laugh. 

How Different Children used Me. (A Hbrary book.) 

SPORTS 

My First Experience on Skates. 
Feeding the Elephants. 

[130] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

A Dangerous Moment in the Auto. 
What the Audience Laughed At. 
My Visit to the Circus. 

The First Baseman. (Each position to be made the subject 
of a paragraph.) 
A Boy-Scout Hike. 
Celebrating Our Victory. 
Bobbing for Apples. 
How to Lay out a Baseball Diamond. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

When Our Engine Goes to a Fire. 

The Curfew Bells. 

The Organ Grinder Comes. 

The Store Windows at Christmas. 

A Neglected Tenement House. 

How to Behave in a Boat. 

Why I'd Rather be a Boy. 

How My Bird Changes His Clothes. 

When the Circus Came to Town. 

A Fireman on Duty. 

Caught in the Act. 

The Secret Chest. 

Watching the Cat Go to Sleep. 

V^y Washmgton was CaUed *'The Old Fox." 

A Midnight Adventure. 

Resolved : That Girls are More Useful to their Parents than Boys. 

Resolved : That Country Life is More Enjoyable than City Life. 

How I Made My Garden. 

Why I Prefer to Live in the City. 

An Experience as a Newsboy. 

The Ambulance Goes By. 

My Most Lateresting Neighbor. 

A Good Citizen. 

How I Earned My First Money. 

How to Get OS a Car. 

Why Boys and Girls Should Learn to Swim. 

C131] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

An Unexpected Pleasure. 

What I Saw a Caterpillar Do. 

A Fire in the Night. 

A Dream. 

The First Money I Saved. 

Why I Am Kind to Animals. 

Christmas Eve. 

Getting Ready for Santa Claus at Bedtime. 

Banishing the Fly. 

Resolved: That Cats Make Better Pets than Dogs. 

Why I Should Like to Live in the Country. 

"Safety First." 

My Garden in August. (Or any other month.) 

Playing School. (Tell a little girl no older than you.) 

An Afternoon of Christmas Shopping. (Tell your chum about 
going with your mother to buy your gifts for the rest of the 
family, and to "see the sights.") 

Taking My Little Brother to School. (Write something that 
would interest your grandmother.) 

An Hour Alone with Our Baby. (Tell your mother, who has 
just returned from a call on a friend.) 

Learning to Tell Time. (To Uncle Charles.) 

A Coast on My New Double Runner, (a. Tell the person who 
gave it to you. b. Tell the boy who hves next door.) 

My First Row of Knitting. (Tell a friend who has not yet 
learned how.) 

My First Seam on a Sewing Machine. 

Bill's Stolen Ride on a Pony. (Tell the boys who were not 
there.) 

Hunting for a Lost Pocketbook. (a. Tell your chum. b. 
Tell the class.) 

^. Technicalities 

Review the technicalities taught up to this point. 
The teacher will note that they are few. But in the large 
they are sufficient to enable children to write correct 
English. In this grade we shall add the following: 

C 132 ] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

(a) Possessive forms. Correlate with the lessons in 
formal grammar and with spelling sentences. 

(6) CapitaUzation, punctuation, and abbreviations as 
found necessary in the teaching of business forms. 

(c) Quotations. 

(d) The comma in complex sentences. 

The old favorites, the comma in a series and the comma 
in direct address, are still missing. The use of the comma 
in complex sentences is inserted here, because the work in 
expanding sentences set down for this grade will naturally 
call for its use. The teacher should be cautioned, however, 
against spending overmuch time on this topic. Children, 
like older people, get a sense for this kind of punctuation 
through their reading. If they don't get it fully in the 
seventh year, the eighth year is ahead. At any rate 
conscious drill in the use of the comma is more than likely 
to result in a comma-besprinkled page. Every teacher 
has had this experience. 

It is poor business, likewise, to drill, drill, drill on the 
quotation. This technicahty appears for the first time 
in the sixth grade. Heretofore great stress has usually 
been laid upon it from Grade III on. As a matter of fact, 
children don't naturally use quoted sentences in their 
themes. Much of the time spent on this technicahty has 
been spent most uneconomically. It is felt that in this 
grade pupils, because of their more mature intelligence, 
should be able to get hold of the quotation without much 
difficulty. 

5. Words Commonly Misspelled 



absence 


attacked 


chief 


all right 


believe 


choose 


already 


certainly 


copied 


anxious 


changing 


cordially 

[133] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 



describe 


laughed 


respectfu 


despair 


library 


sincerely 


disagreeable 


loose 


surprised 


disappeared 


minute 


their 


finally 


necessary 


there 


friend 


perhaps 


too 


foreign 


precede 


truly 


government 


principal 


weather 


grammar 


probably 


written 


judgment 


really 





6. Hints and Helps 

(See also under this heading for the Sixth Grade, page 118,) 

Suggestions as to method in quotation work: 

Call on different children to make statements, ask 
questions, give commands, and make exclamations. 
Have these written on the blackboard, e.g. : 

Mary's statement: "We are now studying about La Salle in 
history." Who said this.^ Mary said it. Then these various 
forms may be written: 

Mary said, "We are now studying about La Salle in history." 

"We are now studying about La Salle in history," said Mary. 

"We are now," said Mary, "studying about La Salle in 
history." 

Use these sentences and others like them as mediums 
for drilling on the use of capitals and marks of punctuation, 
both in simple and in broken quotations. Work of this 
kind tends to appeal to children because the sentences are 
their own. Incidentally it is an excellent plan to allow 
groups of children, six or eight at a time, to write quotation 
sentences on the board before school, to be corrected at 
some odd time during the day. Kept up for three months, 
[1343 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: SEVENTH GRADE 

this will make the correct writing of quotations a fixed 
habit. 

Read frequently to the pupils the letters of Stevenson, 
Brooks, Carroll, and others. Every teacher in this grade 
should have a copy of Children's Letters by Colson and 
Chittendon, pubKshed by Hinds, Noble, and Eldredge. 

7. Written Standard 

When the Organ Grinder Comes to Our Street 

Whenever the organ grinder comes to our street, he is siu'e to 
have a big crowd of boys and girls following him round. One 
man that comes to our street has a large dog. The boys throw 
sticks to the dog and he catches them in his mouth, puts them 
on the ground, and puts his paws on them. Once in a while 
a man comes round who has a monkey. He is sure to have k 
great crowd of children following him for a long distance. When- 
ever the monkey does anything they all shout in great delight. 
I haven't seen an organ grinder now for some time. They seem 
to come in the spring, and then disappear. I wonder where they 
go? 



[135] 



Eighth Grade 

1. ORAL 

(Read '' Outline for Seventh Grade,''' Read the section on 
"Oral Language^'' page 5.) 
1. Aims 

The aim of the course in oral language has been set 
forth as follows: "To turn out pupils able to talk or recite 
for a few minutes in an interesting way, using clean- 
cut sentences and good enunciation." This, of course, 
becomes the aim of the eighth-grade teacher. Now the 
matters of good enunciation, speaking in sentences, and 
avoiding grammatical inaccuracies have all been dwelt 
upon in the work of every grade. It was stated in the 
seventh-grade outline that pupils in the seventh grade 
should display very little weakness in these technical 
particulars. It is repeated here that pupils in the eighth 
grade should most decidedly display very little weakness 
in these technical particulars. If such weakness exists 
in the class, after seven years of drill that has been sup- 
posedly so systematic, something is wrong. Pupils should 
not only go from the eighth grade, but should in reality 
come into the eighth grade with the more mechanical 
phases of good English speech well in hand. 

The work of the eighth-grade teacher under favorable 
conditions should be concerned with the business of 
making the oral English product interesting. This term 
"interesting" has been aheady discussed at length 
several times in this course. In various places it has been 
stated that the interest the pupil takes in this oral lan- 
guage performance depends in great measure on the type 
of subject suggested or assigned. (Read the section on 
"Subjects for Compositions," page 27.) In the seventh- 
grade outline the point was brought out that as the pupil 

[136] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

advances in the grades it becomes more and more im- 
portant for the teacher to get a real, dynamic purpose 
into her work from day to day, in order to ward off class- 
room ennui. There is. no need of a detailed reiteration 
of these discussions. It may be said with profit, however, 
that the clever eighth-grade teacher, in her endeavors 
to inject interest into the oral composition period, will 
broaden the range of her topics and allow much individual 
freedom of choice.<^ The debate is always a good medium 
for training in talking. The management by the pupils 
of the regular morning exercise, of special-day exercises, 
and occasionally of the recitation, gives opportunity for 
the use of initiative and responsibility, and cultivates 
self-possession and poise. 

The eighth-grade pupil will be interested in such activi- 
ties. He will readily become interested also in improving 
his speech by fashioning it after the models that the teacher 
reads. Models should be freely used in this grade. In 
the outline for written work we find various points of 
style noted for treatment. The pupil is expected to learn 
something more about sentence manipulation. He is 
familiarized with various points of technic that make for 
effect, emphasis, variety, and so on. The use of the model 
as a medium for teaching these things is almost prescribed. 
Now it is obvious that everything that is said regarding 
these matters of style with reference to written language 
applies with equal force to oral language as well. Exactly 
the same points should be dwelt on in both the oral and 
the written language periods, and in exactly the same way 
— through the use of the model. It's a way that appeals 
to pupils. And it's the most effective way of infusing a 
touch of style, a quality of " differentness " into the pupil's 
speech and into his written efforts as well. "Language 
is caught, not taught." We have always believed this 

[137] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

with reference to the bad things in speech. We must 
remember that it is true with reference to the good things 
as well. 

The teacher in this grade should use the particular 
model, and should make use of all the literature read in 
the grade as well, to teach the value of expressive words. 
This point was first suggested for treatment in the seventh 
grade. The eighth-grade teacher, continuing the work, 
should do all she can to enlarge the pupil's stock of con- 
nectives and of those parenthetical words and phrases that 
make for an easy, flowing style. In addition, conscious 
attempts should be made to add to the child's vocabulary 
those apt, expressive words, especially adjectives, that 
distinguish language that is good from language that is 
just passably correct. Too conscious attempts along 
this line of course result disastrously. We must guard 
against those "flowery" effects, against that overadorn- 
ment of language, that will inevitably creep in when chil- 
dren feel that they are expected to use new and strange 
words. In this work, as in everything else, the skillful 
teacher will use moderation. Through the frequent use 
of the model, she wiU accustom her pupils to the sound 
of things finely said by masters of style. She will encour- 
age imitation of these masters. But she wiU not expect 
that eighth-grade children wiU become expert in the use 
of words in a single year. After aU, the chief thing to be 
sought through this kind of teaching is to train children to 
give attention to the words they read and the words they 
write, so that aU of them wiU not be content aU the time 
to put down the first word that comes into their minds. 

By way of illustrating the use of the model as a medium 
for vocabulary building, it is suggested that the teacher, 
before asking her class to write about a snowstorm, read 
to the class some of the f oUowing selections : 

[138] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

Aldrich— "Snow Flake." 
Bryant — " Snow Shower." 
Cowper — " Snow." 
Dodge, Mary M. — "Snowflakes." 
Emerson — "The Snow Storm." 
Hawthorne — " Snow Image." 
Larcom — "Snow Song." 
Longfellow — "Snow Flakes." 
LoweU— "First Snow Fall." 
Van Dyke— "A Snow Storm." 
Whittier— "Snow Bomid." 

No pupil can listen to the reading of a few of the 
above without catching a happy phrase or an occa- 
sional telling word. The teacher will find it very much 
worth while to take the trouble of making similar lists 
of models. 

2. Examples of Oral Composition 

These examples have been selected because they reveal 
good choice of English, easy-flowing sentences, and a 
sense for effect. Not all eighth-graders can be expected 
to talk in the way illustrated. Some will talk at best 
merely correctly. In the case of those who are linguisti- 
cally minded, however, the teacher should consciously 
work for themes like the samples. 

The School Yard at Recess 

Big and little, young and old, all join in the laughter and gayety 
at recess. A bird on the wing passing over our yard might mis- 
take the gayly clad children for a bed of variegated flowers 
nodding to and fro in the breeze. Some jump rope, others chase 
somebody else all over the playground in a game of tag, until 
the pursued party calls for "time." You can see still others 
playing ball. Whatever he or she is doing, one and all seem to 
be enjoying themselves greatly. You can hear the big boys' 

[139] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

shouts, mingled with the Uttle children's crows of dehght 
as the head of the Hne tries to catch the end in a game of 
"Fish's Tail." 

For fifteen minutes our play continues. Then we go to our 
rooms for another hour of study. 

How I Lost My Belief in Santa Claus 

Several years ago, I began to lose faith in Santa Claus in this 
way: About a week before the 25th, I saw many times pieces 
of red flannel on which my mother was industriously working. 
Although she told me nothing, I had my suspicions, for only the 
year before I wondered why Santa wore cuffs resembling my 
father's. He seemed to have a familiar voice, also. 

Now one day when I was thinking the question over, I came 
upon a bright idea. I asked mother if I might have a piece of 
red cloth on which she was working. Not suspecting my plan, 
she consented, and I possessed a piece of flannel which was suffi- 
cient for my purpose. Taking a common pin I thrust it through 
the material, enabling me to attach it to anything that was soft. 
When Santa arrived, I got as close as possible and pinned it on 
the suit. It matched. 

A Mishap at a Picnic 

Last year our class wanted to have a picnic before the scholars 
left for the summer. After much discussion, Nantasket Beach 
was chosen as the most desirable place. The day was a beautiful 
one, and all in the class were able to go. An early start was 
made, as we wanted time for some games. In the morning the 
boys had a fine game of baseball, with the girls as their audience. 
When luncheon time came, a committee of six was appointed 
to set the table. One of the girls, who was very much afraid 
of spiders, was putting something on for lunch when she saw 
one of these dreaded creatures walk out from under the cloth. 
It scared her so that in trying to get away she stubbed her toe 
and sat right down on a blueberry pie. You can imagine her 
predicament. 

[140] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

3. Common Errors of Speech 

The list below should be drilled on if the teacher finds 
it necessary. Read carefully all that has been written 
up to this point on this topic, and see also the Appendix. 
Remember the enunciation drills. Eighth-graders are 
much more apt to be slovenly in their speech than pupils 
in lower grades. Remember also that every lesson is a 
language lesson. But don't take the interest out of every 
lesson by too frequent interruptions because of oral 
technical errors. Use the language games. 

(1) There is enough pencils. We all seen the ball game. 
I done my examples. Two of the wheels come off. 
You was right. I ain't got none. 
Neither of the girls have it. 

It don't seem right. 

(2) Who did this come from.^^ I like them colors. 
He'll meet you and I, I heard of you leaving. 

(3) I left my book to home. I've learned it to her. 

She is all better today. I don't know if I shall go. 

I have quite a few pears. Do it like they do. 

I like these kind of examples. Where are you at? 

They wouldn't leave him Each may take their pen- 
play, cils. 

They done it pretty good. The lesson ain't in the book. 

Can I take my history home? 

That's different than I ex- 
pected. 

(4) I must of been late. He makes 'em think! 
I reco'nized the story. 

^. Hints and Helps 

(a) Care must be taken that prepared oral compositions 
are not memorized. It is proper that pupils should fix 
in their minds the chief points of the matter they intend 

[141] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

to talk about in class; but the practice of learning the 
matter of their oral compositions by heart should never 
be permitted. 

(6) The following suggestions as to the conduct of oral 
work have been contributed by various teachers: 

(1) *'In visualization I often ask pupils to close their eyes and 
try to get a mental picture. After a few minutes I call on indi- 
viduals to tell me what they saw. We then talk about proper 
introductions — where the pupil stood in relation to his picture; 
then some of the most imaginative tell their stories. Usually 
they precipitate the climax and they have an object lesson in our 
waning interest. Then all write their stories and when written 
some are read, and we notice central points of interest. 

"For work of this kind I use topics such as these: 

*' Aunt Polly sat in the kitchen paring a panful of red apples. 
**An old wooden pump with a broken handle stood by the 

back door. 
"Up in grandmother's garret was an old spinning wheel with 

spider webs on it. 
"A young girl sat in a window dreaming daydreams. 
"A young man stood by the door of his tent, fishing rod 

in hand." 

(2) " Read humorous stories to class. Can they see the point.'^ 
Encourage telling of humorous stories." 

(3) Debates. 

Once a month, from January to June. Form a club. Presi- 
dent, Vice-President, Secretary, Executive Committee. Four 
speakers. Each paper read to the teacher before the debate. 
Every pupil write one argument and submit to teacher for 
correction before the debate. Let the children debate on the 
side they prefer, regardless of uneven division. It is not num- 
bers that count. 

(4) Rules to apply in telling stories : 
"Know beforehand all you want to say. 

"Begin with time and place, and as interestingly as you can. 

C 142 ] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

"Tell directly and in the order of its happening. 

"Do not bring in unnecessary details. 

"Do not repeat except for emphasis. 

"Exclamatory and interrogative sentences give strong effect 
or emphasis, and when not overdone, lend variety. 

"Make your reader see, feel, and hear just what you see, 
feel, and hear, by keeping him in your mind and talking to him 
in your story. 

" Stop when you have made the point of your story.'* 

2. WBITTEN 

(Read the section on " Written Language^^ page 16.) 

1. Aims 

(a) To continue the work in sentence betterment. 

(6) To infuse into the short paragraph a few touches of 
style. 

(c) To banish common awkwardness of expression 
(see below). 

(d) To drill on words commonly misspelled. 

{e) To secure complete mastery of the few technicalities 
mentioned in this course. 

(/) To insist on neatness and good arrangement in 
all written work. 

The aim of the course as a whole becomes the minimum 
aim of the eighth-grade teacher — "to turn out pupils 
able to write an interesting page of clean-cut sentences, 
unmarked by poor spelling or by common grammatical 
errors." We say that this is the minimum aim. But, as 
intimated in the outline for Grade VII, if the teaching has 
been good, this aim should have been in large measure 
attained before the pupils reach Grades VII and VIII. 
The term "interesting," however, is an expansive one. 
It carries with it the connotation of some skill in the han- 

[143] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

dling of sentences, some power of selection in the use of 
words and phrases, some notions as to the way to get 
effects — in short, some evidences of what might be called 
style. It goes without saying that if the more fundamental 
habits have not been established, the teacher must even 
now go back and establish them. Pupils must write in 
sentences, however crude. Pupils must spell correctly. 
Pupils must hand in papers free from such gross gram- 
matical errors as have been drilled on all through the 
grades. Assuming, however, what should be true, that 
the training prescribed year after year has taken care of 
these fundamental things, then the eighth-grade teacher 
may attempt, with moderation, some advance work as 
suggested under the next heading. 

2. Types of Work 

(a) Words, Read what has been said on the choice 
of words in the "Outline for Oral Language" (eighth 
grade) . Pay particular attention to the pupil's vocabulary 
of adjectives. The several language books available 
will furnish material. 

(6) Sentences. Continue the work of sentence better- 
ment begun in Grade VII, carrying out along more 
advanced lines the suggestions found in the outline for 
that grade. The aim pf this work in sentence betterment 
is to substitute the more easy-flowing complex sentence 
for the shorter, cruder, simple sentence that the children 
have been heretofore taught to use. This work has 
attendant dangers. It may result in a cumbersome 
style. It may be, too, that the pupil, getting the notion 
that he is to write longer sentences, will take up the 
compound sentence as his favorite medium. Now the 
compound sentence must be avoided, as one avoids a 
sharp tool. Such sentences, handled by eighth-graders, 

[144] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

almost invariably lack unity. Without troubling to dwell 
on what ''unity" means, the teacher should train her 
class not to write, under any circumstances, such sentences 
as, "Washington died at Mt. Vernon, and he was six feet, 
three inches tall." Pupils should realize that the fol- 
lowing: ''Our school is named for Harry Ellis, and he was 
a teacher in the Rindge Technical School," can be greatly 
improved by using the appositive or the adjective clause. 
In the teaching of this sentence manipulation, technical 
grammar will be a help. And the teacher who plans 
economically will so correlate her grammar teaching with 
her work in language proper as to enable the pupil to 
apply his knowledge of technical grammar from day to 
day. Pupils in the eighth grade should be able to tell 
a noun in apposition, a complex sentence with an adjective 
or an adverbial clause; and they will find a knowledge 
of the participle helpful, for although its use should not 
be too much emphasized, it is a helpful means of combin- 
ing one's thoughts. Given a working knowledge of those 
grammar forms that best serve language ends, the teacher 
may use with profit such exercises as this: 

Teacher. Make a complex sentence with one adjective 
clause. 

Pupil. Many thousands of acres of cypress trees have been 
destroyed in a single season by the action of these insects, which 
are not larger than a grain of rice. 

Teacher. Make a complex sentence, periodic, with one 
adjective clause. Use "forgetful" as an appositive adjective. 

Pupil. Forgetful of everything round him, and intent only 
upon some subject which absorbed his mind, he paced up and 
down the room. 

As an important phase of this work in sentence better- 
ment, just outlined, there must be handled in this grade 

[ 145 ] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

the work of ridding the sentence of those very conspicu- 
ous *' awkwardnesses" that so often mark the school- 
boy's theme. Just what is meant by this term is 
illustrated by the following samples of beautiful EngUsh, 
all perpetrated in a Cambridge eighth grade during the 
past year, and jotted down by the teacher as material 
for drill: 

My parents, after hearing the story of the wreck, they were 
very glad to see us. 

The first thing you will see are a pair of old pistols. 

On the train looking out of the windows could be seen vast 
forests and cows feeding in the pastures. 

The sun seemed to dance in the heaven on arriving there. 

While sailing along, my brother's hat fell in the water. 

After the bee and the butterfly have performed its work, the 
flower fades. 

The sleigh was very large composed of twenty-five boys and 
girls. 

The score was about five to two in favor of the Red Sox, and 
also there was a very large attendance. 

There was a large crowd at the park which was waiting for the 
game to begin. 

It would be a great idea, mother, if we took our books and our 
luncheon and go to the woods. 

He is playing an accompaniment for the children standing 
before him on the base violin. 

We see a little Indian boy clothed in the dress of his tribe, 
and is kneeling on his bow and arrow. 

Once in a while they take the mules that can see out of the 
mines. 

EngUsh of the above sort is all too famihar to eighth- 
grade teachers. The writer recommends that every 
teacher make lists, of the kind indicated, and keep them 
for reference from year to year. 

[146] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

(c) The Paragraph. Under the heading of "Aims" 
for this grade we have included "to infuse into the short 
paragraph a few touches of style." Eighth-grade teachers 
in Cambridge know what is connoted by this requirement. 
The following suggestions as to ways of getting ejffects 
may be helpful: 

(1) Narration. 

(a) Importance of interesting beginnings. 

Example : 

"Clear the track!" was the cry on a bright December afternoon, 
when all the boys and girls in Hormon Village were out enjoying 
the first good snow of the season. 

(b) Teach climax of story. 

Read : ''The Notary " — Longfellow. 

(c) Exclamatory and interrogative sentences give 

strong effect or emphasis. 

Read : " The Chipmunk's Escape " - — Burroughs. 

(d) Transposed or inverted sentences give variety. 

Example: "Into the Valley of Death Rode the Six 
Hundred." 

(e) Short sentences hurry; longer ones linger. 

Read: "The KiUing of a Bear" — Warren. 

"The Race for the Silver Skates" — Mary Mapes 

Dodge. 
"The Voyage" — Irving. 

(f) Figurative language lends interest. Teach simile, 

metaphor, etc., in connection with the read- 
ing of Evangeline and other pieces of eighth- 
grade literature. 

[147] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

(2) Description. 

(a) Teach point of view — stationary or progressive. 

Read : "'Ice-storm " — Twain. 

"An Arctic Night" — Nansen. 
"A Dakota Wheat Field" — Garland. 
"An Old-fashioned Snowstorm" — Warner. 
"Glen Doone" — Blackmore. 

(b) In describing persons let first sentence give a 

general idea of person — other details added. 

Read: "Scrooge" — Christmas Carol, 

"Ichabod Crane" — Sleepy Hollow, 
"Artful Dodger" — Oliver Twist 
"Man Friday" — Robinson Crusoe, 

(c) Description of animals. 

Read: "Jonathan" — F. Hopkinson Smith. 
"Rab and His Friends" — Brown. 
"Gunpowder" — Sleepy Hollow. 

(d) Description of buildings. 

Read: "Old House" — David Copperfield, 
" Schoolhouse " — Sleepy Hollow. 
"House" — The Pioneers, Cooper. 
"The Pyncheon House" — The House of the Seven 
Gables, Chapter I. 

(e) Description of rooms. 

Read: "A Boy's Study" — Tom Brown* s Schooldays, 

"A Garret" — A New England Girlhood, Lucy 

Larcom. 
"A Sitting Room" — Main Travelled Roads, 

Garland. 

The resourceful teacher should have at hand dozens 
of models, many of them far better than those indicated, 
[148] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

for use in this work of teaching effects in writing. In 
passing, it might be said that the search for these 
models should not be confined to the field of standard 
literature. The current magazines often furnish splen- 
did material. In passing, also, it must be said that 
the teacher must not overdo this attempt to get effects 
into the child's writing. Expose your pupils to good 
writing all you can; but don't be too disappointed if 
many of them seem almost immune. You have really 
done your duty if your charges write clearly and cor- 
rectly. Beyond that, everything may be regarded as an 
extra dividend. 

(d) Familiar Letters and Business Correspondence. See 
the forms given in the Appendix. For suggestions as 
to content of letters, see under this heading for the 
several preceding grades. Pupils in this grade should 
be able to write a personal letter that is "different." 
They will do this, if they see some purpose in the 
performance. As far as possible, the eighth-grade 
teacher should invent and avail herself of situations 
that will call for real letter-writing on the part of the 
pupils. 

{e) Copying and Dictation. Be sure that pupils, before 
leaving the eighth grade, can copy accurately and without 
undue expenditure of time. Remember also that the 
ability to take down dictation at a fair rate of speed is a 
valuable asset at any time. 

S. Topics for Paragraphs 

In the attempt to make eighth-grade English, either oral 
or written, interesting, the teacher will do well to choose 
her subjects carefully. A good subject is half the battle. 
The following list contains some good subjects. Every 
teacher knows others just as good. Remember what the 

[149] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

factors are that go to make a subject suitable for handling 
in the elementary school. Note the different devices 
presented in the list for getting e;ffects of one kind or another 
into the theme. These devices were all contributed by 
one Cambridge teacher. Have you any of your own? 

SCHOOL 

When a Visitor Comes. 

Why I Like School. 

Something Not on the Program. 

Why History (or any other study) is the Best School 

Study. 
Why Geography is the Most Useful Study. 

Why Won the Spelling Match. 

What School Means to a Boy. 

How Different People Used Me. (A book.) 

When the Bell for Fire Drill Rings. 

Why I Want to Stay in School after I am Fourteen. 

Why I want to Go to Work when I am Fourteen. 

Convince Yoiu* Teacher that You Ought to Have an Extra 

HoHday. 
My Plans for High School. 
How We Can Improve the Filing. 

SPORTS 

Fun at a Swimming Lesson. 

The Play that Won the Game. 

Being a Camp-fire Girl. 

"A Man on Second and Two Gone." 

Making a Raft. 

A True Fish Story. 

A Hero of the Baseball Team. 

A Thrilling Lesson. 

Being a Boy Scout. 

A Game that Trains Me to be Quick. 

A Mishap at the Picnic. 

[150 3 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

"Making Up" for the Hallowe'en Party. 
How Baseball is Played. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

A Package I Found. 

How I Paid for a Broken Window. 

When Mother CaUs "Get Up." 

How I Lost My Belief in Santa Claus. 

A Balloon Man on Circus Day. 

My First Night in a Tent. 

Waiting for the Postman on Christmas Morning, 

Our Memorial Day Program. 

When the City Awakes. 

What I Should Do with Five Dollars. 

How to Give First Aid to the Injured. 

Why Winter is Better than Summer for Fun. 

The Newsies on Election Night. 

What I Found. 

The Broken Window. 

My Paper Route. 

A Busy Corner. 

Wearing a New Suit to School. 

My Collection of Stamps. 

My Yard after a Snow Storm. 

Sounds on a Cold Winter Morning. 

Our Garden Toad. 

A Fireless Cooker. 

How to Make out a Money Order. 

How to Set an Alarm Clock. 

Why I Like the "Christmas Carol." 

On the Steamer "Miles Standish" in a Thunder Storm. 

(Tell your mother as soon as you reach home.) 
How I Learned to Run the Sewing Machine. 
A Joke on Me. 
A Day that Went Wrong. 
How I Was Helped out of a Difficulty. 
How I Learned to Cook. 

[151] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Various Suggestions 

(a) As a substitute for the title of a composition, give 
a few lines that start the suspense of the story. After 
reading the lines, ask pupils what questions come into their 
minds to make them want either to hear more, or to read 
the rest of the story. Lead pupils to tell the part of the 
story in which the question should be answered. 

(1) On a pleasant afternoon last August three boys — who 
were enjoying a ride on their bicycles — came to a large orchard 
whose trees were loaded with apples. 

(2) Seeing a rowboat fastened — as she supposed — to the 
old pier on which she was running, Httle Mary said to her play- 
mate, "Oh, what fun to make the boat rock! Let us get into it." 

(3) John Holbrook, Jr., saw his father's automobile standing 
idle in the driveway. For many weeks the Uttle fellow had been 
longing to be a chauflfeur. 

(4) As William was walking through the woods late one 
summer afternoon, he heard a strange sound as of something 
moving among the trees — a sound that came nearer and nearer. 

(5) '*I am sure that a carriage is coming up the road," said a 
child who was looking eagerly from the side-door of a farmhouse 
near the top of a hill. 

(6) In his stocking on Christmas morning, little George found 
a knife. 

(b) To get "emotion" into story writing. 

(1) Fact: John saw a bear. 

Group A — Make us laugh. 
Group B — Make us afraid. 
Group C — Make us sorry. 

(2) Fact: Mary spent two days in the country. 

Group A — She was homesick. 
Group B — She was happy. 
Group C — She admired many things. 
Group D — She was puzzled by some of the sounds she 
heard. 
[152] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

(c) To train pupils in "producing an effect." 

(1) Give details that reveal an emotion. 

Group A — Oh, how tired I was ! 
Group B — Oh, how glad I was ! 
Group C — Oh, how lonely I was ! 
Group D — Oh, how frightened I was ! 

(2) Give details that produce the effect of: 

a. Heat. 

It was high noon on the fifteenth of June. 

b. Moisture. 

It had rained for a week. 

c. Hurry. 

"Oh, Jack! " said his mother, "it is ten minutes after 
eight, and you are not up yet." 

(3) On the evening of the twenty-fourth of December, 

Mr. took a half -hour's walk. 

Group A — Cold. 
Group B — Excitement. 
Group C — Beauty 
Group D — Pleasure. 

(d) For practice in describing, the following may be 
found useful: 

(1) Subject: A Walk through the Woods. 

Group A — Tell what you see. 
Group B — Tell what you hear. 

(2) A Thanksgiving Dinner. 

Group A — Sights. 
Group B — Odors. 
Group C — Tastes. 

(3) Following a Brook. 

Group A — Motion words. 
Group B — Color words. 

[153] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

If, Technicalities 

General review of the technicalities listed in previous 
grades. Don't touch the use of the semicolon. Don't 
put in time on any uses of the comma except those indi- 
cated. In this grade, the principal point of punctuation 
to be dwelt upon should be the use of the comma after 
the subordinate clause in complex sentences. Make cer- 
tain that your pupils have complete command of the punc- 
tuation and capitalization involved in the forms of friendly 
letters and business correspondence. As a phase of 
apphed grammar, and through the medium of spelling 
sentences, continue to teach the correct use of the posses- 
sive. 

5. Words Commonly Misspelled 



almost 


friend 


receive 


anxious 


government 


respectfully 


beginning 


grammar 


separate 


believe 


heard 


sincerely 


business 


judgment 


their 


changing 


knew 


there 


chief 


laughed 


too 


coming 


minute 


tried 


different 


necessary 


truly 


disappeared 


oblige 


using 


disappoint 


principal 


WTitten 


foreign 


really 




accept 


knowledge 


college 


ninth 




disease 


occasion 




eighth 


preferred 


finally 


proceed 




immediately 


r 





[154] 



OUTLINE BY GRADES: EIGHTH GRADE 

6. Hints and Helps 

The following suggestions have been contributed by 
various teachers : 

(a) Chcdce of Words 

"Call pupils' attention to variety of nouns, verbs, 
adjectives, and adverbs used in good literature in readers. 
Require pupils to use these same words in original sen- 
tences. Give frequent practice in trying to discover just 
the right word to fit an idea." 

(6) Sentence Relation 

'*Lay foundation for coherent writing by teaching 
relation between sentences in the same paragraph. Ex- 
amine selections from readers, e.g., 'Rip Van Winkle' 
and 'The Great Stone Face,' to find the words or phrases 
that link one sentence to a preceding one, the words or 
phrases that carry the thought smoothly from one sentence 
to the next." 

(c) ''In description I have two aims: To teach truth 
and to make truth interesting. To accomplish the first, 
I often ask for a concise description of something and criti- 
cize closely any deviation from fact. To make truth 
interesting I encourage individual touches — the quaint 
old leather-covered trunk in the attic suggests grand- 
mother's wedding journey — adorning the truth by 
visuaHzation." 

7. Written Standard 

A sample of the best that may be expected. It is entered 
here because it illustrates all those points of good English 
style that the eighth-grade pupil should strive for. 

A Picture in Our Schoolroom 

As I sit at my desk and write, I can see, if I look at the wall 
on my right-hand side, a copy of "The Angelus" by Millet. 

[155] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

When I study this picture carefully, I seem to see the whole 
of the scene that it represents passing before my eyes. The 
autumn sun is setting, and the gloaming that is descending upon 
the plain wall soon overtake the two peasants, who have been 
digging potatoes. Suddenly, the deep, solemn-toned bells are 
heard, pealing forth on the air. It is the Angelus bell, which 
tolls thrice a day to remind the people of the birth of the Savior. 
Both the man and his wife stop working and bow their heads in 
prayer. All the earth is clothed in a glorious beauty by the 
soft, yellow light of the sunset, and but for the bells, all is silent. 
Who knows but that the angels are hovering near, though 
unseen, ready to carry to the Almighty in heaven the prayers 
of these two faithful souls .'^ 



[156] 



PART THREE 
LITERATURE OUTLINE 



PART THREE 
LITERATURE OUTLINE 

{Prepared by Lillian R, Hartigan) 

INTRODUCTION 

"... And books, we know, 
Are a substantial world both pure and good; 
Round these, with tendrils strong as flesh and blood, 
Our pastime and our happiness will grow." 

The aims of this course are twofold: first, to work toward 
the development of right feeling, right thought, and right 
action. Secondly, to awaken in children an increasing 
love of noble literature through early and happy asso- 
ciation with it. 

If service is the only legitimate end of education, it is 
also its indispensable means. Every subject taught in 
the schools should be taught with direct reference to its 
service to others. 

When a child is born into the world he finds himself 
surrounded by visible objects and invisible forces. In 
due process of time he learns that he is related to the things 
nearest him, to father and mother, to brother and sister, 
to the home, to other children with whom he associates. 
He learns that he is affected by all these and that he 
in turn affects them. As his powers develop, he learns 
that he is vitally related not only to things at hand, but 
also to things remote. When the child enters the school 
he finds himself a part of a larger social body than he has 
known before. Here are new relationships to establish; 
a larger social idea must prevail. 

The only legitimate end that the child may hold for a 
recitation in any subject is to serve his classmates by 

[159] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

directing their thinking, by enriching their lives with inter- 
pretative pictures, significant facts, and vital stories. 
When the idea of social unity is established in the school- 
room, each pupil being alternately the earnest teacher and 
the eager, expectant Ustener, then the school becomes 
the best preparation for life, because it is life itself, a life 
of aspiration and of service. 

Reading is an art by which one mind moves other minds 
to act. This applies not only to the giving forth of memo- 
rized words, but also to the work done in the general 
reading period. The reader is the teacher. Every time a 
pupil recites or reads before his class he should be asked 
to teach his classmates something. Here it is the duty 
of the teacher so to work that something is impressed on the 
child's mind which he in turn may express to others. 

In the first three grades the teacher should work to 
stimulate right feeling. Undoubtedly the first feeling 
aroused in a child is love of home, father, and mother. 
Dwell on this feeling — have the child tell little loving 
experiences, then take up the poems which deal with such. 
Now, go out from the home and touch on animals. Awaken 
the love and desire to protect God's creatures. Every 
child has a pet cat or dog or possibly a rabbit. Encourage 
conversation about their pets — what they are — what 
they do. The children are usually enthusiastic and eager 
to talk. Now they are ready to be told other people's 
feelings for the great outdoor creatures. Dwell not 
only on the poems to be memorized, but also on the sug- 
gested poems. Read a poem to the class — ask what it 
means, find out if any one has an experience like what the 
poet has expressed. If so, let the child tell the class; 
then, while the memory of the personal experience is fresh 
in the mind, let the child read the poem. 

At this stage the child will begin to wonder and think 

[160] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

why he should love and care for pets. Now comes the test 
of directing the reasoning. Thought has been in the 
teacher's mind, but not in the pupiFs. It has been in 
the teacher's so that she might consciously awaken the 
foremost note, right feeling, in the pupil's. 

Right thinking should be the dominant note throughout 
the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Here we find the child 
beginning to think and reason for himself. The eternal 
questions of ''the what, the how, the why," have demanded 
recognition, and the child's mind has received them. 
To know why a poet has expressed his emotions and 
thoughts, the child must feel and think along with him. 
Devise a good method of approach and by so doing arouse 
the child's expectation. It will be wise to get an outlook 
upon the poem as a vjhole as soon as possible, for a boy sees 
a whole fire engine, a girl a whole doll, before the mind 
begins to analyze the parts. A child cannot learn every- 
thing at once. Therefore let the work be step by step; 
let the child get the spirit of the thing, then arouse thought 
and imagination by leading questions, pictures, or stories. 

How can we stimulate the imagination in William 
Martin's "Apple Blossoms"? Take the following: 

"Have you plucked the apple blossoms in the Spring.? 

In the Spring? 
And caught their subtle odors in the Spring? 
Pink buds bursting at the light. 
Crumpled petals baby-white. 
Just to touch them a delight! 

In the Spring!" 

Color appeals to a child; ask him what color he thinks 
apple blossoms are. "Do you think the crumpled petals 
are soft like velvet?" "Why does the poet call them 
baby-white?'' Here you may find the child connecting 

[161] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

the soft touch of the petal with the velvet smoothness 
of his baby brother's skin. How does he feel and think 
when he is permitted to hold his baby brother? Would 
he experience the same delight and pleasure in holding 
and touching the apple blossom? 

Having awakened right feeling and right thinking in the 
lower grades, it remains for the teachers of Grades VII 
and VIII to promote right action. Up to this point we 
have been consciously educating and developing the inner 
life of children; now we must help them to express this 
growth in word and action. A skillful teacher will gradu- 
ally unfold and reveal tendencies and aptitudes hitherto 
unrecognized, so that the wondering mind of the pupil 
will say, "Is that what it means?" "Is life like that?" 
"There is a character like me." "I like that poem." 
Literature represents life not only as it is, but as it may and 
ought to be. From literature a pupil may gain not only 
a refined pleasure, but also a knowledge of life and of him- 
self. Literature will help him to find his real self, to recog- 
nize his strength and discover his weaknesses. In order 
to be worth while not only to himself but to the world, 
he might take and use the admonition over the temple at 
Delphi, "Know thyself," and then link with it Polonius' 
advice to his son, Laertes: 

"To thine own self be true; 
And it must follow as the night the day. 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 

It may noted that no mention has been made of the 
various forms of emphasis in vocal expression, i.e., pitch, 
inflection, force, and so on. This has not been done be- 
cause, as a matter of fact, the important phase of this 
task of teaching literature is getting pupils to think. If 
this can be done, the expression will largely take care of 
[162] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

itself. If thought and imagination have stimulated the 
child's mind, there will be an indefinable yet recognizable 
quality in the voice which expresses sympathy, under- 
standing, and appreciation of the author's thought. 
For, after all, to read well is to express sincerely the 
thoughts and feelings that we have discovered behind the 
printed words. 

Here it may be well to caution against the teaching of 
literature as a language lesson. Do not burden the lesson 
with grammatical work. Clear up only those diflBculties 
which stand in the way of essential meanings, and never 
let it be forgotten that in literature words are always used 
with literary suggestiveness, not scientific precision. 
Don't overwork the dictionary. In literature, dictionary 
meanings do not always hold, and besides we grow to know 
the meaning of words through constant hearing and use. 
Encourage the habit of getting at the meaning of a word 
through the context. Reread the phrase containing the 
perplexing word, and by emphasis try to answer questions 
as to meaning. 

The following paragraph hints at the way in which 
right feeling, thought, and action may be developed in 
the handling of a typical selection, — the ''Gettysburg 
Address." 

In the "Gettysburg Address," where can you stimulate 
right feeling? The love for neighbor — mankind — is 
stimulated by the phrase "all men are created equal," 
a love for country by the phrase "who gave their lives that 
that nation might live." Right thinking is aroused when 
we begin to ponder why "we cannot dedicate or hallow this 
ground." By tactful leading questions, the teacher can 
have the child think under and around Lincoln's words 
and not accept them merely on their face value. Why 
have the brave men living and dead consecrated it above 

[163] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

our power to add or detract? When we have found out 
why they have done so, then it rests with us to discover 
what we can add. Then by right thinking and right action 
we can "dedicate ourselves to the great task remaining 
before us," so to feel, think, and be that we shall leave the 
world better for having worked in it. 



"And grant it. Heaven, that all who read. 
May find as dear a nurse at need. 
And every child who Hsts my rhyme, 
In the bright, fireside, nursery clime. 
May hear in it as hind a voice. 
As made my childish days rejoice!" 

"A great bank of darkness envelops the world. Every true 
teacher is a torch bearer, advancing into that darkness. We 
cannot add to the general illumination of the world by extin- 
guishing the torches of others." 

GRADE I 
"Who keeps one end in view makes all things serve." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

Whole Duty of Children Stevenson 

A Thought Stevenson 

Looking Forward Stevenson 

My Bed is a Boat Stevenson 

A Good Boy Stevenson 

Rain Stevenson 

Bed in Summer Stevenson 

A Child's Morning Hymn Coleridge 

The Lamb Black 

Good Night and Good Morning . Lord Houghton 

Mary's Lamb S. J. Hale 

The Swing Stevenson 

[164] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

Shadowtown Ferry Rice 

The Little Star Jane Taylor 

A Boy's Song James Hogg 

Babyland George Cooper 

2. For reading to children: 

The Nurse's Song Blake 

A Child's Thought of God E. B. Browning 

A Child's Evening Prayer Coleridge 

Autumn Fires Stevenson 

The Lamplighter Stevenson 

The Land of Counterpane Stevenson 

Winter Time Stevenson 

A Real Santa Claus F. D. Sherman 

Queen Mab Hood 

3. Books recommended: 

Child's Garden of Verses R. L. Stevenson 

Verses for Children Lucas 

Poems Every Child Should 

Know Burt 

How to Tell Stories to 

Children C. S. Bailey and C. M. Lewis 

Under the Nursery Lamp Anson D. F. Randolph 

GRADE II 

"Nothing worth while is ever accompUshed without infinite 
labor and work." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

Mother and Child Eugene Field 

Why Do the Bells for Christmas 

Ring? Eugene Field 

The Night Wind Eugene Field 

A Norse Lullaby Eugene Field 

The Land of Thus-and-So James W. Riley 

[165] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Good Children Street Eugene Field 

Sugarplum Tree Eugene Field 

The Rock-a-by Lady. Eugene Field 

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod .... Eugene Field 
The Gingham Dog and the 

Calico Cat Eugene Field 

2. For reading to children: 

St. Francis and the Birds Longfellow 

The Emperor's Bird's Nest Longfellow 

The Four Winds Sherman 

Shadow Children Sherman 

Answer to a Child's Question . . . Coleridge 

The Lost Doll Kingsley 

The Pet Lamb Wordsworth 

To a Butterfly Wordsworth 

I Love Little Pussy Jane Taylor 

8. Books recommended: 

The Eugene Field Book 

Child Life in Poetry Whittier 

The Listening Child Thacher 

The Golden Windows Richards 

Uncle Remus Harris 

Puss in Boots and Reynard, 

the Fox M. P. Chadwick 

iEsop's Fables 
Book of Knowledge 

GRADE III 

"It is not by regretting what is irreparable that true work is 
done, but by making the best of what we are. It is not by 
complaining that we have not the right tools, but by using well 
the tools we have." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 
[166] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

The Sandman Vandegrif t 

How the Leaves Came Down . . . CooHdge 

The Corn Song Whittier 

The Children's Hour Longfellow 

Hiawatha's Childhood Longfellow 

Hiawatha's Saihng Longfellow 

Hiawatha's Friends Longfellow 

In School Days Whittier 

My Playmate , Whittier 

The Barefoot Boy Whittier 

Daybreak Longfellow 

The Kitten and the Falhng 

Leaves Wordsworth 

To a Butterfly Wordsworth 

Sweet and Low Tennyson 

The Brook . Tennyson 

Songs from Pippa Passes Browning 

For reading to children: 

Lucy Gray Wordsworth 

Fifty Famous Stories Retold Baldwin 

Friends and Helpers Sara J. Eddy 

Just-So Stories Kipling 

The Child Musician Austin Dobson 

The Months Sara Coleridge 

Sunset Land Joe Lincoln 

A Child's Thought of God E. B. Browning 

The World WHliam B. Sands 

The Wind in a Frolic William Howitt 

The Voice of the Grass William Howitt 

St. Christopher and the Christ 

Child Howells 

Books recommended: 

Verses for Children E. V. Lucas 

Zuni Folk Tales Gushing 

Open Sesame : Books I and II 

[167] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Prose and Verse for Beginners . . Scudder 

For the Children's Hour CM. Lewis and C. S. Bailey 

Book of Knowledge 

GRADE rV 
"A great poem is a fountain forever overflowing with the 
waters of wisdom and dehght." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

October's Bright Blue Weather . Jackson 
The Mountain and the Squirrel . Emerson 

The Windmill Longfellow 

All Things Bright and Beautiful . Alexander 

Thanksgiving Day , Child 

A Child's Thought of God E. B. Brownmg 

A Visit from St. Nicholas Moore 

Boy's Song Hogg 

Robin Redbreast AUingham 

The Village Blacksmith Longfellow 

The Sparrows Thaxter 

In March Wordsworth 

America Smith 

2. To be read by the children or to the children: 

Thirty More Famous Stories 

Retold Baldwin 

Stories from Andersen and Grimm 

Robin Hood Scribner Edition 

AUce in Wonderland Carroll 

Alice Brand (from the Lady of 

the Lake) Scott 

Excelsior Longfellow 

The Birds' Christmas Carol .... Wiggin 

Child Life in Poetry Whittier 

Child Life in Prose Whittier 

Paul Revere's Ride Longfellow 

Old Ironsides Holmes 

[168] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 



GRADE V 

"There is no substitute for thoroughgoing, ardent, and sincere 
earnestness." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

Paul Revere's Ride Longfellow 

Inchcape Rock Southey 

Apple Blossoms W. W. Martin 

Brook Song Riley 

Farm Yard Song Trowbridge 

The Rainbow Wordsworth 

A Farewell Kingsley 

Under the Greenwood Tree .... Shakespeare 

Going a Nutting Stedman 

Today Carlyle 

Old Ironsides Holmes 

Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind . Shakespeare 

Bugle Song Tennyson 

Lochinvar Scott 

2. To be read by the children or to the children: 

Charge of the Light Brigade .... Tennyson 
Incident of the French Camp . . . Browning 

The Ancient Mariner Coleridge 

The Tales of a Wayside Inn .... Longfellow 

King Robert of Sicily 

The Birds of Killingworth 

The Bell of Atri 

Herve Riel Browning 

Jackanapes {Read to children) . . . Ewing 
King of the Golden River {Read 

to children) Ruskin 

Gulliver's Travels Swift 

[169] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 



GRADE VI 

"It is better to inspire the heart with a noble sentiment than 
to teach the mind a truth of science." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

The Star-Spangled Banner Key 

The Sea Barry Cornwall 

Charge of the Light Brigade .... Tennyson 

Hohenlinden Campbell 

Song of Marion's Men Bryant 

A Day of Sunshine Longfellow 

Ye Mariners of England Campbell 

The Wreck of the Hesperus. . . .Longfellow 

Concord Hymn Emerson 

The Flag Goes By Bennett 

Incident of the French Camp Browning 

Chiquita Bret Harte 

How They Brought the Good 

News from Ghent to Aix Browning 

He Prayeth Best Coleridge 

The Day is Done Longfellow 

2. To be read by the children or to the children: 

The Voice of Spring Felicia Hemans 

The Leak in the Dike Phoebe Cary 

The Emigration of the Pilgrim 

Fathers Edward Everett 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Browning 

Ring Out, Wild Bells (In 

Memoriam) Tennyson 

Stories from Homer and Virgil . . Alfred J. Church 

Longing Lowell 

The Burial of Moses Alexander 

The Boy and the Angel Browning 

[170] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

King Solomon and the Ants Whittier 

Tales from Shakespeare Lamb 

Legend of St. Christopher ,H. H. Jackson 

Pipes at Lucknow Robert Lowell 

The World is Too Much with Us . Wordsworth 
The Courtship of Miles Standish . Longfellow 

GRADE VII 

"One half of education consists of knowing where to find 
knowledge." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

Battle Hymn of the Republic. . .Julia W. Howe 

Columbus Joaquin Miller 

Abou Ben Adhem Leigh Hunt 

The Landing of the Pilgrims . . . FeHcia Hemans 

To a Skylark Wordsworth 

To a Mountain Daisy Burns 

The Daffodils Wordsworth 

Snow Flakes Longfellow 

The Passing of Arthur Tennyson 

"And slowly answered Arthur from the barge: 
The old order changeth, yielding place to new.'* 
The Courtship of Miles Standish . Longfellow 

Thanatopsis Bryant 

Sir Galahad Tennyson 

The Antiquity of Freedom Bryant 

Vision of Sir Launf al Lowell 

"What is so rare as a day in June.^^" 

2. To be read by the children or to the children: 

The American Flag Beecher 

What Constitutes a State? Sir William Jones 

The Character of Washington . . Thomas Jefferson 

[171] 



STANDARDS IN ENGLISH 

Nolan's Speech (Man without a 

Country) Hale 

To the DandeHon Lowell 

Scrooge's Christmas Dickens 

Lay of the Last Minstrel Scott 

Stories of King Arthur and the 

Round Table Beatrice Clay 

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow . . . Irving 

The Hurricane Bryant 

The Shepherd of King Admetus . Lowell 

Breathings of Spring Hemans 

The Cloud Shelley 

St. John Chap, xiv: 1-27 

The Cotter's Saturday Night. . .Burns 

The Spacious Firmament Addison 

The Uprising of the North T. B. Reed 

The Explorer Kipling 



GRADE VIII 

"The great poems of the world, the great books of the world, 
are written in invisible ink. It is your own personaHty which 
brings out the WTiting." 

1. To be memorized or studied by children. (Do not 
memorize more than four poems.) 

Recessional Kipling 

Address at Gettysburg Lincoln 

The Chambered Nautilus Holmes 

I Would Be True Van Dyke 

Breathes There the Man with 

Soul So Dead Scott 

(Lay of the Last Minstrel) 
Once to Every Man and Nation 

(The Crisis) Lowell 

O Captain, My Captain Whitman 

[172] 



LITERATURE OUTLINE 

The Coastwise Lights of Eng- 
land Kipling 

Eve before Waterloo Byron 

Song of the Chattahoochee Lanier 

Flower in the Crannied Wall . . . Tennyson 

To a Waterfowl Bryant 

The Rhodora Emerson 

Polonius's Advice (Hamlet, Act 

I, Scene 3) Shakespeare 

St. Paul to the Corinthians Chap, xiii: 1-13 

To be read by children or to children: 

A Definition of a Gentleman . . . Cardinal Newman 

(The Idea of a University) 
Extracts from Washington's 

Farewell Address 
South Carolina and the Union. .Hayne 

Reply to Hayne Webster 

Supposed Speech of John Adams . Webster 

England and Her Colonies Burke 

Emmet's Vindication 

The Marshes of Glynn Lanier 

The Vision of Sir Launf al Lowell 

Snow-Bound Whittier 

Evangeline Longfellow 

The Great Stone Face Hawthorne 

Rip Van Winkle L-ving 

Treasure Island Stevenson 

Apostrophe to the Ocean Byron 

(Childe Harold, Canto IV) 

The Bells Poe 

The Perfect Tribute Andrews 

Tad and His Father Bullard 



[173] 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 
A. PICTURE LIST 

GRADE I 

Adam, J. : The Cat Family. 

Barnes, E. C: Family Cares. 

Bonhem*, Rosa: Lions at Home. 

Boughton, George H.: Pilgrims Going to Chm-ch. 

Correggio: Holy Night. 

Dupre, Jules: Escaped Cow. 

Gardner, Ehzabeth: Soap Bubbles. 

Herring, J. F. : The Village Blacksmith. 

Jacque, Charles Emile: Feeding the Chickens. 

Keppers, J.: Feathered Pets. 

Lambert: Kittens. 

Landseer, Edwin: Saved. 

Millet, Jean Frangois: Nestlings; The First Step. 

Murillo: Children of the Shell. 

Parrish, Maxfield: Air Castles. 

Smith, Jessie Wilcox: Illustrations. 

Weber, Otto: Greedy Calves. 

Longfellow in His Study. 

Portrait of Longfellow; of Washington. 

Christmas Subjects. 

Illustrations for Mother Goose. 

GRADE n 

Bonheur, Rosa: Ploughing. 
Bremen, Meyer von: The Pet Bird. 
Dupre, Jules: The Haymakers. 
Holmes, G. A.: Can't You Talk? 
Israels, Josef: Motherly Cares. 
Millet, Jean Frangois: Feeding Her Birds. 
Ranouf, E.: The Helping Hand. 
Rotta, Antonio: Pussy's Temptation. 

[177] 



APPENDIX 

Smith, Jessie Wilcox : Rain, rain, go away. 

Her pictures of children. 
Stevens, A. B. : The Broken Flower Pot. 
Swinstead, G. H.: The First Step; The Trial of Patience; The 

Country Joiner. 
Christmas Subjects. 

GRADE m 

Bonheur, Rosa: Brittany Sheep. 

Bremen, Meyer von: Toll Paid Here. 

Breton, Jules: The Song of the Lark. 

Brooks : Grace Darling. 

Dupre: In the Pasture. 

Jameson, M. : The Fisherman's Daughter. 

Landseer, Edwin: A Pair of Nutcrackers; Shoeing the Horse. 

Lins, Adolph: Song without Words. 

Millet, Jean Frangois: The New-born Calf; The Churner. 

Morgan, J. : A Heavy Load. 

Raphael: Madonna of the Chair. 

Reni, Guido: The Aurora. 

Portraits of Raphael; Phoebe Cary. 

GRADE IV 

Bonheur, Rosa: Changing Pastures; Denizens of the Highlands. 

Bremen, Meyer von: Who'll Buy a Rabbit.? Wounded Lamb. 

Douglass, Edwin: Aldernay. 

Dupre, Jules: Pitching Hay; In the Open Country; The Prairie. 

Greuze, Jean Baptiste: Girl with Apple. 

Landseer, Edwin: The Connoisseurs; Wild Cattle of ChiUingham. 

L'Hermitte, Leon: Paying the Harvesters. 

Mason, George: Harvest Moon. 

Mauve, Anton: In Charge of the Flock; Sheep Going to Pasture; 

The Returning Sheep. 
Millet, Jean Frangois: The Shepherdess; Going to Work; 

Sheep Shearing. 
Ruysdael, Jacob: The Windmill. 

[178] 



APPENDIX 

The Boy Columbus. 

Portrait of Edwin Landseer; Abraham Lincoln; Longfellow. 

Christmas Subjects, 

GRADE V 

Benner, Jean: Shady Corner at Capri. 

Bonheur, Rosa: An Old Monarch. 

Breton, Jules: The Reapers; Summer Day. 

Chica, E. I. : Race of Roman Chariots. 

Dupre, Jules: Haymaker's Rest. 

Gerome, J. L. : Circus Maximus. 

Haquette, G.: Drawing the Nets (Copley). 

Millet, Jean Frangois: The Sower; Calling the Cows. 

Murillo: Fruit Venders. 

Ostade, Isaac van: Camp in Holland (Copley). 

Rembrandt: The Mill. 

St. Gaudens: Shaw Memorial. 

Troy on, Constance: Return to the Farm; In the Woods. 

Van Marcke, E. : Cattle in a Marsh 

Portraits of Webster; Audubon. 

Christmas Subjects. 

GRADE VI 

Bonheur, Rosa: Brittany Cattle. 

Boughton, George H. : The Return of the Mayflower. 

Bouveret, Dagnan: At the Watering Trough. 

Breton, Jules: The Washerwoman. 

Corot, Jean Baptiste: Spring. 

Dupre, Julien: The White Cow. 

Hoffman, Heinrich: Christ and the Doctors. 

Homer, Winslow: Fog Warning. 

Knight, Ridgeway: CaUing the Ferryman. 

Laux, M.: A Resting Place; Swallows. 

LeRolle, H.: By the Riverside; The Shepherdess. 

Millet, Jean Frangois: Potato Planting, 

Morgan, F.: The Tug of War. 

Murillo: Melon Eaters. 

[179] 



APPENDIX 

Pasini: Curiosity. 

Steffeck: Queen Louise and Her Sons. 

Thorwaldsen, Bertel: The Lion of Lucerne. 

Turner: The Grand Canal, Venice. 

Rome: Forum; Cohseum; Arch of Titus; Vatican; St. Peter's. 

Florence: Cathedral; Giotto's Tower; Doors of Baptistry. 

Venice: St. Mark's; Doge's Palace; Grand Canal; Rialto; 

Bridge of Sighs. 
Spain: The Alhambra. 
Cathedrals: Amiens; Cologne; Canterbury; Notre Dame; 

Milan; York. 
Portraits of Hawthorne; Hamilton; Whittier; Columbus. 

GRADE VII 

Abbey, Edwin: Quest of the Holy Grail (Copley). 
Angelo, Michael: David. 
Barclay, Edgar: Old Steps at Capri. 
Bonheur, Augusta: Cows at a Watering Place. 
Breton, Jules: End of Labor. 
Chapu, H. M.: Jeanne D'Arc. 
Corot, Jean Baptiste: The Willows. 
Donatello: David; St. George. 
Landseer, Edwin: Monarch of the Glen. 
Flameng, A. : Fishing Boats at Dieppe. 
Leutze, E. : Washington Crossing the Delaware. 
Millais, John Everett: The Princes in the Tower. 
Millet, Jean Frangois: The Gleaners. 
Robbia, Luca della: Singing Children. 
Sarto, Andrea del: St. John. 
Schreyer, Adolph: The Arabian Chargers. 
Titian: Presentation of the Virgin. 

Trumbull, John: The Signing of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence; Alexander Hamilton; The Surrender of Burgoyne. 
Turner: The Fighting Temeraire. 
Arabian Nights: Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. 
Vecchio, Palma: Santa Barbara. 
Watts, G. F.: Galahad. 

L 180 ] 



APPENDIX 

Bronze Statue of King Arthur at Innsbruck. 
England: Houses of Parliament; Tower of London; Windsor; 
Westminster Abbey. 

GRADE VIII 

1 . Comparison of several works by the same artist, for example : 

Joseph Mallord W. Turner: Fighting Temeraire. 

Slave Ship (Museum of Art, 

Boston). 
Dido Building Carthage. 

Jean Frangois Millet: Sower. 

Gleaners. 
Shepherdess. 
Man with the Hoe. 

Raphael: Madonna della Sedia. 

Madonna Grand Duca. 
Transfiguration. 

Works of other artists, viz., Rosa Bonheur, Copley, 
Stuart, Winslow Homer, Whistler, Sargent. 

^. Works of art in Boston: 

Shaw Memorial — St. Gaudens. 
Death and the Sculptor — French. 
Pubhc Library Decorations. 
Treasures in Museum of Fine Arts. 

3. A list of twelve famous paintings and the galleries where 
they are: 
Angel Heads: Sir Joshua Reynolds. 

National Gallery, London. 
Assumption of the Virgin: Titian, 

Academy, Venice. 
Aurora: Guido Reni. 

Rospigliosi Palace, Rome. 
Descent from the Cross: Rubens. 

Cathedral, Antwerp. 

[181] 



APPENDIX 

Holy Night: Correggio. 

Dresden Gallery. 
Last Supper: Leonardo da Vinci. 

Monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan. 
Madonna della Sedia: Raphael. 

Pitti Gallery, Florence. 
Madonna di San Sisto: Raphael. 

Dresden Gallery, 
Madonna of Murillo. 

Pitti Gallery, Florence. 
Night Guard: Rembrandt. 

Museum, Amsterdam. 
Santa Barbara: Palma Vecchio. 

Santa Maria Formosa — Venice. 
Three Fates: Drawn by Michael Angelo. 

Pitti Gallery, Florence. 

B. COMMON ERRORS AND THEIR 
CORRECTION 

The following table appears in a report recently sub- 
mitted by Professor Charters on the range of grammatical 
errors occurring in the schools of Kansas City, Mo. This 
table, and a discussion of it, may be found in the Semi- 
annual Report of the Division of Reference and Research, 
Department of Education, New York City (Publication 
No. 12). It is entered here for the purpose of bringing 
home to teachers what has been said a dozen times in this 
course — that the range of children's errors is a limited 
one. Note that errors in the use of the verb (errors 8 
to 13) make up fifty-seven per cent of the total. 



[182] 



APPENDIX 






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[IBS] 



APPENDIX 



LANGUAGE GAMES AND DRILLS 



These drills are based on the following principles: 

1. Repetition. That we speak the language we hear is 
axiomatic. In order to establish correct habits of speech, 
the ear must learn to recognize and expect accepted forms. 
Then, given reasonable opportunity for practice, the tongue 
will reproduce them naturally. Therefore much repeti- 
tion is necessary. 

2. Interest. The drill should be made interesting to 
the end that attention may be effortless and recollection 
pleasant. In fact, the play's the thing. 

3. The Mind. There should be some apparent occasion 
for the use of the required expression. 

4. The Body. Bodily movement associated with mental 
activity strengthens and fixes impressions. 

Drill 1 
'' I threw it/' not '' I tru it:' 

Pupils in seats as usual. One child has a bean bag. 

Teacher (calling from cards). "Sadie." 

Pupil (tossing bag). "I threw it to Sadie." 

Teacher (from cards as before). "Tony." 

Sadie (tossing). "I threw it to Tony." 

Continue until every child has had his turn. The accidentally 
long or short tosses add to the fun. Practical variations will 
readily occur to the teacher. 

DrHl^ 

Leader. "I 've thought of a word that rhymes with *door.' " 

Jimmie. "Is it part of an apple.f^" 

Leader. "No, it isn't 'core.' " 

Ethel. "Is it what I did to my dress.?" 

Leader. "No, it isn't 'tore.' " 

Jean. "Is it what lions do.f^" 

Leader. "Yes, it is 'roar.' " 

[184] 



APPENDIX 

Now, Jean, the successful, "thinks of a word,*' and the guess- 
ing continues by definitions. 

This game never fails to give pleasure. Ideas struggle for 
expression in comprehensible definitions, and the rhythmic 
formula ''No, it isn't — — ," repeated again and again, makes 
the correct verb form pleasantly familiar. 

DriUS 

Drill on Use of 'Saw'' 

Place a number of objects on teacher's desk. 

Have a row of children pass the desk and tell what they saw. 

Limit them to the number of objects they must tell, by saying : 

"You may tell two objects." 

"You may tell three objects," etc. 
The next child may tell four objects. 
Look out for careful placing of "and." 

"I saw a cap." (Not "sorra cap.") 

"I saw a cap and a book." 

"I saw a book, a marble, a top, and a ball." 
In like manner: 

take — took 

find — found 

bring to me — brought 

Drill 4 
Game 1 
Teacher. "Today I'm going to play borrowing. John, 
lend me your umbrella." 

John. "I ain't got no umbrella." 
Katie. "I have no umbrella." Etc. 

Game 2 
Teacher. "Mary and Alice may walk across the room. 
Mary, tell me what you and Ahce did." 

Mary. "Me and Ahce walked across the room." 
Ahce. "I and Mary walked across the room." 
Teacher. "The poUte way is to name Mary first." 

[185] 



APPENDIX 

Alice. "Mary and I walked across the room." 

Teacher. "AHce told me very nicely. Mary, you tell me." 

Other corrections may be taken up in this way. 

Drill 5 

A child stands in the corner blindfolded. Another pupil 
stands beside him not blindfolded. A third child steps up and 
taps the first one on the back. Number one says, "Who is it?" 
The child who did the tapping says, "It is I." The bhndfolded 
pupil then gives the name of the child he thinks it is. If he 
guesses correctly, the pupil not bhndfolded says, "It is he" 
or "It is she." If not, he says, "It is not she," or "It is not he." 

Drill 6 

To correct common errors, such as these: "Z seen iV; ^'he done 
it "; " me and him "; " / got it off him,'' etc. 

Hold up a book or pencil. Ask these questions of different 
pupils: "What do you see?" "What did he see?" "What has 
he seen?" "What have they seen?" "What did they see?" 
The answers to these questions and many more of the same type 
will call for the correct use of see, saw, seen, 

"What did John and you see?" "What did he and you see?" 
These questions call for answers with the correct use of "A^ 
and 7." 

"Mary, get a ruler from Annie." "From whom did you get 
the ruler?" "From whom did Mary get the ruler?" This may 
be continued, calhng on different children and making use of 
different objects. "Where did you get it?" "Where did I, 
he, she, we, they get it?" The answers to questions of this sort 
will teach the children to use from instead of off. 

Drill 7 
Game 1. Drill on "7 haven't any,^^ or "7 have no^ 
"You may tell me about some things which you haven't. 
If you haven't a book, how would you tell me?" 
"I haven't any book." 

[186] 



APPENDIX 

"Tell it another way." 
"I have no book." 

"I haven't any ink." 

"I haven't any pen." **I have no pen." 

"I haven't a paper." **I have no paper." 

**I haven't a crayola." "I have no crayola." 

Game 2. Use of "doesn't.'' 

"Tell me some things your mother doesn't do; your father; 
your teacher; a squirrel; a robin." 
"My mother doesn't talk Enghsh." 
"My mother doesn't work in the mill." 
"My mother doesn't start the fire." 
"My mother doesn't chop wood." 
"My mother doesn't like dirty boys." 

DriUS 
Oral Dictation — Correct Verb Forms 

"John, go to the closet, get a ruler, and put it on Mary's 
desk. Tell me what you did." 

"I went to the closet, got a ruler, and put it on Mary's desk." 

"Mary, go to my desk, get two pencils, an eraser, and a key, 
and give them to Miss . Tell me what you did." 

"I went to yoiu* desk, got two pencils, an eraser, and a key, 
and gave them to Miss ." 

Drill 9 

Requests. Planned to eliminate the habits "Please, may I 
change my seat?" and "Can." 

"Miss , may I change my seat?" 

"Miss , may I go home at eleven o'clock?" 

"Miss , may I have another paper?" 

"Miss , may I have a book?" 

"Miss , may I leave the room?" 

"Miss , may I close the window?" 

[187] 



APPENDIX 

DriUlO 
Use of ''Isn'r 
Have a list of words on the board. A child steps out of the 
room, while one of the class goes to the board and selects a 
word. Then the first child comes in, and points to the word he 
thinks the boy selected, and asks: 
"Is it 'every'.?" 
'*No, it isn't 'every,'" 

or 
"Yes, it is 'every.'" 

DriU 11 
Game of Fortmie TelUng. Correct Use of "Saw" 

To play this game the class should be divided into fortune 
seekers and fortune tellers. On the teacher's desk should be 
many pieces of paper, each having a picture on the under side; 
the upper side should be blank. 

Each fortune seeker in turn should go to the desk, take a paper, 
peep at the under side, and then, turning to a fortune teller, 
say what he saw. The fortune teller should at once tell the 
seeker's fortune. Thus, if a fortune seeker should say, "I was 
a ship," the fortune teller should say, "You will be a sailor." 

The following suggestions will help in the beginning, but the 
teacher and pupils should be able to think of other pictures and 
fortunes : 

"I saw a club." "You will be a policeman." 

"I saw a hat." "You will be a milliner." 

"I saw a ladder." "You will be a fireman." 

"I saw an automobile." "You will be a chauffeur." 

Drill 12 
A Group of Similar Games 
Game 1. This game is like a spelling match. The teacher 
gives out the following words, one by one: 

a bubble a tulip a riddle 

a potato a whistle a wagon 

[188] 



APPENDIX 



a lesson 
a bean bag 
a horn 



a picture 
a ball 
a leaf 



a kite 
a flag 
an answer 



The pupil whose turn it is should reply instantly, choosing 
the most fitting answer from the following sentences. It is a 
failure to hesitate or to give the wrong answer: 



I grew it. 
I threw it. 



I blew it. 
I drew it. 



I flew it. 
I knew it. 



Game 2. For another game, the teacher may give out the 
same words, and the pupil whose turn it is may respond instantly 
with one of the following questions: 

"Have you ever known one?" 
"Have you ever blown one?" 
"Have you ever shown one?" 
"Have you ever flown one?" 
"Have you ever thrown one?" 
"Have you ever grown one?" 

Game 3. Make up a similar one for the class to play, using 
these words : 



bought 

thought 

fought 



caught 
taught 
brought 



Game 4. A similar game may be made, using the following 
sentences, only there will be no rhyming words in it: 



I saw it. 


I stuck it. 


I shook it. 


I did it. 


I drove it. 


I swung it. 


I chose it. 


I ate it. 


I rang it. 


I wrote it. 


I lost it. 


I dug it. 


I broke it. 


I took it. 


I said it. 


I tore it. 


I gave it. 


I showed it 


I wore it. 


I sang it. 


I strung it. 


I spim it. 


I hit it. 


I wove it. 


I drank it. 


I bit it. 





[189] 



APPENDIX 



WORDS FREQUENTLY MISPRONOUNCED 

This list is suggestive only. 





GRADE IV 




address 


end 


just 


throat 


again 


evening 


knew 


through 


against 


father 


nothing 


told 


and 


February 


often 


tomorrow 


apron 


follow 


parade 


towards 


because 


fourth 


pen 


Tuesday 


been 


gave 


picture 


using 


beginning 


geography 


poUte 


walking 


bouquet 


give 


rhubarb 


was 


catch 


ha,s 


saw 


which 


chimney 


have 


something 


window 


could have 


hold 


stayed 


with 


couldn't 


into 


ten 


writing 


didn't 


iron 


thread 


you 


drowned 


Italian 


three 




elm 


I wish 


threw 






All words ending in "ing " 






GRADE V 




across 


elegant 


kept 


strength 


arctic 


eleven 


length 


strongest 


arithmetic 


elm 


moving 


subtraction 


ask 


escape 


no 


ten 


attack 


February 


nobody 


three 


aunt 


flew 


nothing 


through 


been 


geography 


often 


thrown 


catch 


get 


other 


Tuesday 


comfortably 


getting 


pen 


vegetables 


crept 


got 


perhaps 


vicious 


desk 


guessed 


promoted 


Wednesday 


drawing 


height 


reading 


what 


eighth 


just 


slept 


when 


[190] 









APPENDIX 



where 


why 


with 


yet 


which 


winding 


writing 




white 


window 


yes 






All words ending in "ing " 






GRADE VI 




again 


blouse 


forehead 


soldier 


against 


blue 


just 


strength 


attacked 


captain 


length 


theater 


aunt 


catch 


Ubrary 


wharf 


arctic 


chimney 


often 


when 


because 


drowsed 


pen 


while 


been 


engine 


saw 






All words ending in "ing " 






GRADE vn 




allies 


duty 


hoist 


pillow 


arithmetic 


elm 


horse 


poem 


athletic 


every 


idea 


saucy 


berry 


faucet 


kettle 


student 


bureau 


February 


Hbrary 


telephone 


cellar 


gather 


many 


thought 


clothes 


government 


mountain 


Tuesday 


coflfee 


height 


new 


window 


creek 


history 


nothing 






All words en( 


ling in "ing" 






GRADE vm 




amateur 


drouth 


iron 


since 


architect 


extraordinary 


ItaUan 


soda 


at all 


forbade 


itaUc 


steady 


attorney 


genuine 


learned (a) 


stupid 


bade 


geography 


leisure 


sirup 


bouquet 


glacier 


loam 


thought 


catch 


haunted 


mischievous 


throat 


cohimn 


illustrate 


nem-algia 




deaf 


influence 


potato 





All words ending in "ing ' 



[191] 



APPENDIX 

C. MODEL LETTER FORMS 

The two forms entered below have been adopted as 
official standards in the Boston Public Schools. They 
are used here through the courtesy of the Committee on 
Standards in English, Mr. Charles L. Hanson, Chairman. 

MODEL FORM OF FRIENDLY LETTER 

316 Summit Street, 
Pomona, Cal., 

September 2, 1913. 
Dear Marion, 

Mother and I reached home yesterday after our visit of three 
months in the East. Although we had a pleasant time with 
our relatives in Maine and Massachusetts, we are glad to be at 
home once more. 

The peaches and plums are ripe now, and we spend all day on 
the ranch helping the men gather the crop. I wish that you 
could be here to help eat our peaches, but I suppose you are 
enjoying your good Massachusetts apples. 
Give my love to your mother and write soon. 
Your loving friend, 

Helen Garland. 

MODEL FORM OF BUSINESS LETTER 

321 Beacon Street, 
Boston, Mass., 

January 20, 1914. 
Charles Lowell & Company, 
36 State Street, 
Boston, Mass. 
Dear Sirs : 

In reply to your advertisement in today's Herald for a clerk 
in your office, I wish to submit my application. 

I am fourteen years of age and am a graduate of the Prospect 

[192] 



APPENDIX 

School. My report card shows my standing in arithmetic and 
speUing. This letter is a specimen of my handwriting. 

I refer to Mr. John L. Stevens, principal of the Prospect 
School, and to the Rev. George Chase, 25 Wilson Road, Boston, 
Trusting that you will consider my application favorably, I am. 
Respectfully yours, 

Richard H. Williams. 



D. TIME ALLOTMENT IN LANGUAGE 

Minutes 

weekly 

All oral 

One fourth written, three fourths oral 
One fourth written, three fourths oral 
One third written, two thirds oral 
One third written, two thirds oral 
One half written, one haK oral 
120 One half written, one haK oral 
One half written, one half oral 

The above schedule does not include time for grammar. 
The suggestions as to the proportion of time to be spent 
on oral and on written work need not be taken too literally. 
It is important, however, to give to oral work about the 
amount of time indicated. 



Grade I 


100 


Grade II 


100 


Grade III 


100 


Grade IV 


150 


Grade V 


150 


Grade VI 


120 


Grade VII 


120 


Grade Vm 


120 



[193] 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Aims, discussion of, 4, 16-18. 

by grades (oral), 41, 51, 62, 

73, 90, 104, 120-123. 

by grades (written), 58, 68, 

78, 96, 111, 127, 143. 

Articulation, discussion, 6, 10, 78, 

95-96. 

exercises in, 12, 190-191. 

Awkward constructions, 128-146. 

Blackboard work, 71, 87-88. 
Business letters, 129-130. 

Common errors of speech, discus- 
sion, 12, 15, 47, 66, 94, 109. 
corrective exercises in, 184- 

189. 
lists, 48, 55, 66, 77, 95, 110, 
126, 141. 

Composition subjects, discussion 
of, 6, 9, 27, 42, 52, 74. 
development of, 43, 63, 71. 

Conferences, 32. 

Connected talking, how secured, 8, 
43, 90, 121-122, 136-137, 
142-143, 152-153. 
illustrations, 41-47, 53-55, 65, 
75-76, 106-109, 139-140. 

Copying, 34-38, 60, 83, 98, 115. 

Correction of compositions, 30-34. 

Correlation, 2, 9. 

Criticism of compositions, 30-34^ 
87. 

Description, models for, 148. 
Dictation, 34-38, 71, 83, 98, 115. 
Drills, oral language, 13-15, 67. 

English, interesting, 18-20, 73, 90, 
121, 136, 152. 



Errors of speech, discussion, 12-15, 

47, 66, 94, 109. 
corrective exercises in, 184- 

189. 
lists, 48, 55, 66, 77, 95, 110, 

126, 141. 

Fitzgerald, M. E., ix. 

Games and drills, 184-189. 
Goldwasser, E., 82. 
Grammar, value of, 2, 13, 24, 109, 
125-126. 

Habits, formation of good, 48, 49, 
56, 68, 72, 78, 95, 104, 110, 
126. 

Interesting English, how secured, 
18-20, 73, 90, 121, 136, 152. 

Jones, W. Franklin, 25. 

Letter, the, discussion of, 81, 114. 

business, 129-130. 

models for, 82-83, 135, 192- 
193. 
Literature, selections, 164-173. 

Model, use of, 20, 137-138. 
Models for description, 148. 

Narration, models for, 147. 

Oral language, general principles, 

5-16. 
drills in, 13-15, 67. 
how secured, 8, 43, 90, 130- 

132, 136-137, 142-143, 152- 

153. 
illustrations, 43-47, 53-55, 

65, 75, 106, 139. 

[197] 



INDEX 



Paragraph, the, discussion of, 21, 

80, 97, 113-114, 129. 
topics for, 84-85, 99-100, 116- 

117, 130-131, 150-151. 
Penmanship, 72. 
Pictures, lists of, 177-182. 
Power in English, how secured, 

18-20, 90, 121, 136, 152. 
Pronunciation, discussion of, 10, 

78, 95-96. 
exercises in, 12, 190-191. 



illustrations of written, 60, 70, 
88, 102, 119, 135, 155. 
Subjects for compositions, discus- 
sion, 6, 9, 27, 42, 52, 74. 

Technical grammar, 2, 7, 13, 24, 

109, 125-126. 
Technicalities, written discussion, 

17-18, 133. 
lists, 58, 68, 86, 101, 118, 133. 
Themes, length of, 20-22. 



Reproduction, 9. 
Rewriting, 119. 

Self-expression, 18, 19. 
Sentences, discussion of, 22, 79, 91, 
97, 105, 112. 
exercises in, 128, 145. 
Sheridan, B. M., ix. 
Spelling, discussion, 25, 26. 

hsts of misspelled words, 59, 
68, 86, 87, 101, 118, 133, 
154. 
Standards, discussion, vi, 4, 69, 
103. 



Vocabulary building, 15, 122, 138, 

155. 
Voice, quality of, 11, 48, 67. 

Waste, vii. 

Writing, preparation for, 57. 

first steps in developing, 71. 

Written language, general prin- 
ciples, 16-38. 

Written standards, 60, 70, 88, 102, 
119, 135, 155-156. 

Written technicalities, discussion, 
17-18, 133. 
Hsts, 58, 68, 86, 101, 118, 133. 



C198] 



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